


Triskele

by crackersme



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: Dry Humping, F/M, Porn With Plot, Slow Boil, fuck or die - freeform, getting caught with morning wood, getting caught with your pants down, these tags will get updated, tipo’s venture into all the kinks, yeah there's butt stuff in this haha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:11:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 66,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7514738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crackersme/pseuds/crackersme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not every message from the Universe is good. A warlock lands a curse on Tigress, and Po learns that it will kill her at the turn of the season, unless he steps in. He's their one hope to counteract the curse, but he has to use a magic scroll of VERY unconventional practices. As long as it saves her, Po is willing to do anything, even... 'bondage'? 'Breath play'? What have they gotten themselves into...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, where's Tigress?"

This was an historic day. It had been three months, and Kai's attack could already be reduced to an urban legend. The Jade Palace was back to full glory. A repair job like this was a testament to how much the Valley of Peace could achieve together, especially with a bunch of pandas helping out. But Po had been paying attention.

Tigress worked the hardest, by far. When everyone else retired for the lunch hour, she was still hauling building supplies up the Thousand Steps. When the sun went down and the rest headed home, she still had a hammer or a saw in her paws. That was the thing about her, because she was the most physically enduring of them all, she felt it was her duty to use all her strength. And now, Shifu had just declared the Palace good as new, confetti was flying over the totally packed courtyard, and for the life of him Po couldn't find the stripy master anywhere.

He asked the rest of the Five, his goose dad, his panda dad, Mei Mei, Big Fun, his goose dad's pig neighbours, Zeng, Oogway's spirit and also the Unseen River of the Knowledge of the Universe, but he came up empty.

It was understandable. Things had been crazy hectic. Tigress was desperate for alone time, Po was sure—he knew she hadn't even meditated for a while. But he couldn't let her miss the celebrations! He certainly wasn't going to enjoy them until she was back from whatever hidey hole she'd found. It wouldn't be fair.

He felt a tug on his shorts and looked down to see Lei Lei.

Of course! The little tyke had a built-in Tigress radar. "Hey there, you know where your big sis is?"

Lei Lei stared up at Po with a frown, seemingly annoyed that he had to ask. She pointed to the plot of trees just east of the courtyard. "Get Stripy Baby back, please."

"I hear you, kiddo." He gave her a thumbs up and trotted off.

xxxxx

This forest was deceptively big. Po had done a little exploring around the area before and found it great for training. It was very steep and a lot of the ground was rock, which was all good for honing balance. But the trees also grew very thick, and close together—sometimes Po had to suck in his belly to squeeze between two tree trunks. It meant that even though he'd only been walking for five minutes, he couldn't hear any music or cheering from the courtyard. He didn't realise until he had it, how lovely it was to have some peace and quiet.

This was the ideal meditation spot, especially now they were halfway through summer. Finding good shade higher up the mountain was tough, but thanks to the canopy, everything stayed dark and cool. Po wondered if Tigress came here often. It seemed to him like the kind of place she'd be right at home in.

He looked up and smiled as he walked. The leaves rippling in the breeze above, with the sun poking through them every so often, gave him the impression that they were under a calm green sea. A part of him felt bad that he'd be interrupting Tigress' meditation, but she could come back here later—they weren't gonna have another celebration like this.

Though... maybe he'd end up leaving her alone after all, because he couldn't see her yet. She must've found herself the best hiding spot. And it was gonna be tough for him to find a silent, stationary target.

Wait. Scratch silent, could he hear someone breathing? Really loudly, more like panting. Tigress wouldn't be that loud if she was meditating. She wouldn't be that loud in any situation, actually, Po was the mouth breather in their group. Maybe there was someone in here with them.

Po snapped into Warrior Mode. Fists up and feet apart, he crept toward the source of the sound, between a couple more trees, not sure what he'd find. But the Dragon Warrior was ready for anything! Right?

He came into a narrow clearing, where the rock was too spread out to let trees grow. Spotting ten feet away a head of stripes and a flash of a yellow hanfu, Po relaxed out of his stance. He'd been wrong, of course there wasn't anyone else around, who could climb up here but an experienced kung fu master? It was just Tigress making those heavy breathing sounds.

Why, he had no idea. Was this a new kind of technique she was trying out? He didn't think he'd seen anything about it in the Palace scrolls. And he couldn't see what she was doing very well—she was lounging on a boulder, her back to him—but from what he did know, her form was way off. He'd never seen her look so casual. Her spine was curved outward, she was propping herself up with her right paw behind her, and she'd brought her bare left knee up to her chin. Po couldn't see her left forearm, her torso was in the way. The arm was bent in and moving slowly up and down. It kind of looked like she was rubbing her stomach, but the angle was wrong for that, a little too high.

Wait. Her legs were bare, she wasn't wearing her breeches. Wait.

She wasn't meditating.

And the Dragon Warrior wasn't ready for _this_.

There was just a moment when Po could've turned and run. He knew, he knew he shouldn't be here right now, but some wildly unhelpful part of his mind told him to ignore the instinct, and the moment passed. After that, he realised that was the biggest ever mistake—he couldn't move if he wanted to. He was frozen in place.

"Ahh..." Tigress rolled her head back, as if stretching her neck. Po caught a glimpse of her face. Her eyes were closed, thank Heaven, he would've been busted immediately if she saw him in her peripheral vision. Her mouth however was wide open, her tongue ever so slightly sticking out over her lips.

Po swallowed the yelp that wanted to burst out of him. Clearly she had no idea he was here. And just maybe he should keep it that way. He could see her tearing his head off over this. But well, if she did kill him, he wouldn't have to die of embarrassment at walking in on his best friend's most private of private moments.

He needed a plan, he couldn't stay here, eventually she'd notice him. He tried his hardest to move a foot back on the rock, putting all his focus on not making a scraping sound. There might as well have been a reinforced gate right behind him for all he could move. He kept his eyes fixed on Tigress, checking to see when she might whirl around, which was his cue to run away and start a new life in Mongolia.

He tried to ignore the blood rushing through his ears so he could think. He thought he knew Tigress very well, better than anyone did, but he was suddenly seeing her in a whole new light. Which was for a very obvious reason, but it wasn't just the thing she was doing that got to him.

He knew that he'd never seen her look like this. The way she was moving, gently rolling her pelvis into her paw. How her tail wasn't swiping around like any other time, but swaying in the air like a willow branch.

She looked so... blissed out. Not sleep, not hours of meditation ever made her come close to this. There was always some wall between herself and the world, always some control over her expression even if it was the tiniest shred. The only things that stopped her from being a perfect picture of peace right now were the trembling in her arms and the way her shoulder blades were drawn together, like she had a bow and she was ready to fire it. Or she was about to snap the twine.

"Mm..."

The sound of her made a deep flush spread from Po's ears all the way down. He wasn't looking away. Why wasn't he looking away. He should really be looking away. In fact, he should be backing away. Heaven blessed him by returning some control over a foot and he stepped back from the busy tiger, it was the best idea, he could leave and pretend he'd never ever seen her, uh, tending to herself like this—

Amazing. Years and years of being an accomplished kung fu master, and Po was still the clumsiest creature in the Valley of Peace. If not, in China. How did he mess up taking one step back? How did he slip on completely dry rock and end up doing the splits?

Tigress' little ears snapped up at the thud of Po's rump hitting the ground. Like he knew she would, she span her head around to find the source of the noise. The terror of how she was going to react made Po pay attention to every tiny detail of her. Bliss stayed on her face for a second longer than he thought it would, before she homed in on his gaze and straight-up mortification came crashing in.

"Po—I— _what are you doing here_?! What—?"

"I'm so sorry! I was just—! I came to tell you—!" He absolutely could not remember what he came for. There was a second of agonising silence while Tigress leapt off the boulder and crouched down behind it so Po could only see her head and her paws resting on the stone by each side of her muzzle. He was sure this was also the first time he'd seen her eyes go so wide.

"UM...!" Po eventually said. He blinked rapidly a dozen times before realising he would make things less awkward—optimistically assuming that was possible—if he stopped staring at Tigress.

He looked at the ground instead and pushed himself to his feet. Then he turned his back to Tigress.

"I'm seriously really sorry, I, uh..." Po caught sight of the Jade Palace above them and his memory came back. "I, um, came out here to find you so I could tell you that the, um, Palace has been officially rebuilt as of today! Yay, go us. So, everyone's celebrating now and I noticed you weren't around to see it so I, came out here to find you..." Po winced at himself. He couldn't think of anything to say that was less stupid than the babble he just blurted out, so he shut his mouth and fidgeted with his fingers.

He waited for Tigress to say something or begin to murder him, but she didn't. He couldn't wait for long before taking a deep breath and looking over his shoulder. Catching Tigress' gaze again, he saw that she hadn't moved from her startled-meerkat stance at all, and Po was slightly comforted by the way she looked exactly how he felt.

Only slightly though—he mostly felt guilty. This thing that just happened had been an accident of course, but Tigress' face right now... she was a dignified master, and wherever she went she carried herself with pride. Some might say that pride is a vice, but Po liked this aspect of her. He felt that for all the good she'd done and was going to do, she was entitled to stand tall.

The last thing he had ever wanted to do was make her shy away like a cowed child.

He didn't trust that he could explain this with words, so he tried to put it in his expression. Fighting past the urge to grimace from the tension between them, he gave Tigress a small empathetic smile. He figured it should come across well, that he understood what she was feeling. He was the Emperor of Embarrassment after all.

It seemed like Tigress received the message. She swallowed and her expression neutralised. "Alright... give me a moment and I'll walk back with you."

He nodded enthusiastically. It was for the best that they moved on, ASAP.

"...Po?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you turn around again? I need to dress myself."

Po was momentarily distracted by the phrasing she used. She never requested anything of him, if she wanted something she would just give a command. But he quickly came to appreciate that yes, he was staring into the eyes of a lady who was currently half-naked. He wouldn't blame her for not being her usual confident self.

"Right—sorry!" He complied. So maybe they were going to get out of this situation in one piece. This wasn't something anyone ever imagined happening, he sure didn't, so he was fairly impressed with how well they were handling it. But as he listened to the brushing sound of Tigress' breeches as she pulled them up over her thighs, thighs that were covered in extremely soft-looking fur... he lost his train of thought.

Maybe he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Po?" Tigress' voice came from just behind him.

He jumped so hard that his ears almost fell off. Now why wasn't he that good at stealth mode? It would've come in mighty handy. He staggered away for a few paces before turning back to face his friend. She looked almost back to normal—the most obvious evidence of her activities that still lingered was a faint blush across her nose and cheeks. Po watched as she finished up smoothing her hanfu out, then straightened herself and stared him down. She seemed to expect him to make a comment on her appearance. Maybe whether she looked presentable? And not like she'd just been interrupted pleasuring herself in the middle of a forest?

He cleared his throat. Before was a very obvious kind of awkward, but this kind was much less clear-cut. "Are you... okay?"

Tigress twitched. It was very subtle, but Tigress _never_ twitched, so to Po it was just as dramatic as someone falling flat on their face.

All the same, she said, "I'm fine. Let's go back."

She moved to stroll past him. Despite the cracks in her facade, Po was impressed. Her acting unbothered was very inspirational. If she could manage it then so could he. Right?

At least he could if he would stop staring at her for a second. He made the mistake of noticing that just as she passed by him, she brought her left paw up, and her fingers were slick with something that was completely unfamiliar to him but made his heart drop into his stomach at the sight.

And when Tigress' tongue darted out and quickly licked her fingers clean... he could have missed that. He _should_ have missed that. Unbothered? Nevermind, Po was secretly a mess for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeee it begins XD Thank you to Oli and Rye for giving me feedback before I published :) Let’s see where the sin train leads, shall we? Huehuehue


	2. "We're even now?"

Po was not avoiding Tigress. He was hanging out in his goose dad's restaurant for the entirely uncowardly reason of wanting to spend a little time with him.

He was also here to lend a hand with the accounting. The restaurant's stock ran dry for the bonanza of a celebration yesterday, and while Mr. Ping was ecstatic about the profits, he also wouldn't be caught dead opening shop without two turnips to rub together. Today was the day of rest for the Valley, and tomorrow it would be business as usual.

Po had been down here a while; the sun was already setting. He knew he could've finished writing all these scrolls a few hours ago but he took his time. After all, the sooner the work was over, the sooner he was expected to return to the Jade Palace, and he was still feeling now the way he'd been feeling all day—that if he caught Tigress' eye, he'd faint and go crashing down the Thousand Steps like a boulder.

But he could only stretch the time out so far. He finished stroking in the final figures, put down his ink brush and leaned back on his stool. "Well... that's the last of it..."

His dad now had an updated revenue, a tracking list of his most loyal customers (something Mr. Ping took very seriously), and a restock list ready to take to the market in the morning.

"Excellent work!" the goose said from the kitchen. "I have some noodles right here, already heated up for you." The goose had made sure to keep some ingredients behind for his little panda.

"Actually, Dad, would you fix me up some tofu?"

"Oh?" Mr. Ping looked up from the pot he was stirring. "Noodles are your favourite. You never order tofu, you don't like it."

Po shrugged. "It's not that I don't like it, I just, I guess I never gave it a good chance before."

"Hm. Alright, but don't waste any of it."

"When do I ever waste food?" Po chuckled as he gathered the scrolls on one side of the table to make room for their dishes.

Mr. Ping waddled over with his son's request and a bowl of soup for himself. They got started in silence, which wasn't bothersome in itself.

Po's thoughts soon began to bother him though. "...Dad?"

"What is it, Son?"

Po adjusted his chopsticks in his paw as he tried to settle on a way to put this. "How come you... why did you never marry? And start a family of your own?"

Mr. Ping looked up at him, eyebrows raised. Po didn't blame him for looking shocked, the question did kinda come out of nowhere.

After a moment of thinking, Po's dad shrugged and said, "I suppose I never met the right lady for me. And after I found you on my doorstep, I never felt I needed anything more." He smiled. "You were quite a handful, I don't think I could've kept up with any more mouths to feed!"

Po chuckled, slightly nervous.

"I'm just teasing, it was an honour and a pleasure to raise you!" Mr. Ping patted his son's arm with a tiny feathered hand. "Now, why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Po muttered. "You ever have a girlfriend at least?"

Po watched as a touch of nostalgia settled on his dad's face. "...I had a sweetheart or two in my youth. A duck from a neighbouring village, she was lovely, and she made the best spring rolls in the Valley, everyone said so! And a chicken from down the street, she's long since moved away by now but she always asked after my Leek and Onion Noodles, she raved about them." Mr. Ping sighed gently at his memories. "But I was never serious with anyone. Clearly it wasn't destined to be!"

Po was about to ask if Mr. Ping had any regrets about it all, but the sound of soft thudding on cobble told him that his other dad was just around the corner. He turned around in his stool to see Li Shan come in.

"Ah, good evening Son, Dad," the panda said warmly.

Mr. Ping gave him a little wave. "Help yourself to some noodles, Dad, and there's some spices at the back."

Li nodded and ducked into the little kitchen. "So what are you two talking about?" he asked from the counter window.

Po hesitated in telling him. Now that Mr. Ping had given him some answers, he wasn't sure he wanted to keep this conversation going.

"Past relationships," Mr. Ping blurted out, making Po wince.

"Oh!" Li Shan finished pouring his noodles and looked out at his son. He smiled softly. "Well, there was only ever one lady for me."

He came out and joined them, putting his straw hat down on the ground beside him. The family slipped into more silence. It wasn't exactly a sad mood, but Po didn't want those words to be the last of the day. "Dad, how come you intended me for Mei Mei?"

The pandiva told him about how their parents matched them up when they were newborns. It had long been cancelled after Po was lost and presumed dead. And Mei Mei was with Hom-Lee now, not that Po minded. She was a great friend but he couldn't imagine himself marrying her.

"Betrothals were very common among our kind, before the Panda Exodus," Li Shan told him after a mouthful of noodles. "I've noticed they don't really do that sort of thing here in the Valley, so I understand why the idea might be strange to you."

"It's _so_ strange, like... pairing people up as babies?" Po stuffed a tofu cube in his mouth and gulped it down without chewing. "How could you know so early if a couple will... be compatible?"

"Compatible?" Li prompted.

"Y'know, like if they'll like each other or not. Be passionate for each other."

"Hey, there's more to relationships than passion!" Li Shan put his chopsticks down so he could animate his point with his paws. "That's just one side of what I like to call the triangle of love."

Mr. Ping tilted his head to the side. "And the other two?"

"Commitment, and friendship," Li Shan said, his chin up authoritatively. "And what people often get wrong about love is that they think it all comes on its own, but no. All these things, they aren't what you find in another person, they're gifts that you have, and what you choose to give to another. They're like..." he looked around for a good analogy and spotted the brand new Jade Palace above them. "The building blocks of love."

If he was gonna be honest with himself, Po was lost. It all seemed like sound wisdom but... he didn't think he knew enough about love—romantic love—to recognise any truth in what his dad was telling him.

And by 'enough', he meant 'anything'. So he said, "If you say so," and popped another tofu cube in his mouth.

Li Shan looked at him carefully. "That's not been your experience, son?"

He didn't _have_ any experience. And a sudden wave of embarrassment arched over his head. It wasn't something he really wanted to say aloud, even in front of the two people in the world he was sure would never think badly of him.

Mr. Ping opened his beak again, to Po's chagrin. "Oh, Po hasn't had a girlfriend yet."

Li looked shocked, which his son wasn't sure how to take. "Oh... no boyfriend either?"

It was Po's turn to look shocked. "No Dad, I'm uh, pretty sure I just like girls."

"Sorry. Thought I'd check." Po didn't say anything back, so he continued. "Never found the right girl?"

Po had to think hard how he wanted to answer that. Because he'd met plenty of girls, lots and lots of girls actually, that he liked. When he was a kid, he pretty much liked every last girl in the village. But, well... _he_ liked _them_ , he couldn't say the same for the other way round.

He noticed that both his dads were staring at him, waiting for him to answer. So Po gave them an exaggerated shrug. "I guess not!"

"Like father like son." Mr. Ping smiled.

Po hoped he was smiling back because he was trying to. It used to bother him, he used to stay up at night thinking about why none of the girls liked to be near him. But Po thought after his teenage years he'd left all his little crushes and infatuations behind—he'd gotten over it.

He _had_ gotten over it. Once he became obsessed with kung fu, the old stings of rejection stopped bugging him. He'd been sure they had. At least until yesterday, when he saw Tigress. And he had no idea why, but seeing her made him remember some stuff. Some things he tried to leave behind once he became an adult. Thoughts, feelings. Now the tiger was making him wonder.

It had only been a day of this and Po was already exhausted.

He peeled a splinter off one chopstick with his claws.

Noticing that nobody was saying anything, he looked up to see his dads staring at him in concern. Po cleared his throat and tried to come up with words less awkward than the silence. "What do you even do with a girlfriend anyway? Give her flowers and kiss her paw?"

This didn't really help in the awkwardness department, because Li missed that he was being flippant. "It's very simple. A girlfriend has much in common with a normal friend, just with a few more duties. What I'd say is most important—you take care of her. You protect her..." A small frown fell over his face for a moment, and Po knew what he was remembering. The old panda shook it off and continued. "And you please her in every possible way." Maybe to hide the shadow that was just over his face, he broke out into a sunny, cheeky smile. "Understand?"

Po blinked at him. He thought he knew what his dad was trying to say, but Li was usually more direct in his speech. What Po had learned about his recently-reunited father: tact wasn't his strong suit. He was the kind of guy to just come out and say whatever was on his mind. Which wasn't often a problem, since he was always good-natured.

While Po was thinking it over, though, Li's smile faded and he turned to Mr. Ping. "You never gave him The Talk?"

So Po's suspicions were right. "Wait—" he tried to interject.

 _"What?!"_ Mr. Ping was on the defensive immediately. "Why would you assume I didn't?! Po is an adult now!"

"Yes," Li said reasonably. "Which is why he needs to know about the birds and the bees."

Po wanted to put his face in his plate. Mr. Ping never did tell him but Po already knew about all that stuff. Years ago he overheard the neighbouring kids making crude jokes, so he took out a few biology scrolls from the village library. They had definitely been... educational.

Mr. Ping leaned back huffily as Li Shan turned to face his son again. "Now Po, when a panda and another panda love each other very much..."

This wasn't a conversation that needed to be happening, and Po was annoyed that he'd let it get to this point. After Tigress and his dads, what was next, was he going to accidentally trip and land a kiss on Shifu or Monkey or someone? He hoped not, he didn't need this special brand of clumsiness to carry on.

Po got to his feet, scooping up the last of his tofu. "It's really really late, I gotta head back up before the Five comes after me."

Mr. Ping snapped out of his huff. "Oh... see you later, then, Son."

Li waved Po off. "Yes, we'll continue this talk some other time."

"Ha ha," Po said. "Sounds great, g'night!" As he escaped, he heard the two start arguing.

"You scared him off with your 'bees' and 'birds' talk!"

"A grown panda needs to know these things!"

Po sighed and trekked slowly toward the Palace, dwindling his tofu supply as he went. He considered saving some for Tigress, but he knew she wouldn't want to eat just before bedtime, and come morning it would be all dried out. It was her favourite—the only times she ate anything more exotic were when Po ordered something for her at the restaurant. He had no idea why she seemed content to live off this stuff. It was basically just tasteless geometric shapes.

Maybe she didn't have tastebuds, that would explain it. He pictured her tongue, something that was way too easy to accomplish now. Pale pink, and so warm-looking. And, because she was a cat, covered in tiny barbs.

He imagined what they would feel like against his finger.

Po stopped walking and passed all his tofu into one paw so he could use the other to slap himself in the face. Thoughts like this had been haunting him all day. Just because he'd seen Tigress with her guard down didn't mean it was okay to start thinking of her in this way. It was bad and wrong and disrespectful and hot and _no_ , it wasn't! It wasn't hot! It was inappropriate, that's what it was. She was his _friend_.

He stuffed all his tofu in his mouth, groaned helplessly, and kept walking. He needed sleep.

xxxxx

Po walked into the barracks and more bad luck. It was late, and everyone's candles were out except Tigress'. He heard her shuffle a piece of parchment, she must be reading.

Great. She would've heard him come in, what with her impeccable feline hearing. The floorboards never got any less creaky under Po's weight. Their rooms had always been on the far end of the corridor, opposite each other. Po had to walk by her to get to bed.

Why was that such a terrifying notion? What did he expect her to do, pounce on him as he tried to open his door?

Shaking his head at himself, he stepped to his room as casually as he could. Which wasn't very casually at all, he was so stiff he could barely put one foot forward. He hoped Tigress couldn't see his silhouette through the paper walls, he must look like a total idiot.

Okay, he made it to his door without tripping, that should count as a win. Just as he folded it open, Tigress called out from behind her wall. "Po."

She was never one to voice her hurt, but tonight there was something in her tone that made a chill of guilt run down Po's back. She was well aware that he'd been avoiding her.

Po turned. He couldn't know for sure, because even with the candlelight he could only see her outline. But his kung fu instincts told him that she was staring right at him. Waiting for acknowledgement.

Po now understood what his absence must've been saying to her. He'd given her the impression that he was judging her. And nothing could be farther from the truth, what she did in her free time was her own business, he didn't respect her any less. He should open her door and tell that to her face, but he still felt lightheaded at the idea of seeing her.

Wow. As the Dragon Warrior, it had been a long time since he felt this pathetic.

He realised he was just standing out in the hallway between their rooms, not doing anything except letting some weird feeling of anticipation build. He pulled himself together enough to croak out, "Hi, Tigress, everything's cool, I'm just late 'cause my dad needed help with something. Sorry if I worried you. Goodnight."

It was better than nothing. He could tell almost straight away that he'd made the right move, and the wrong one. Though he still couldn't see her, he sensed her relax. "Goodnight," she said back, her voice soft and warm.

That was what made it the wrong move. It was such a simple word, but it went through him like a flaming arrow to his belly, setting his stomach alight. He had no idea how to deal with the feeling, except run from it. He rushed into his room, swiped the door closed behind him, and leapt onto his crib.

As he saw Tigress snuff out her candle, and heard her settle down herself, he tried not to think about how she was ten feet away from him right now, just like she was every night.

But tonight she felt too far away.

xxxxx

Po was on his hands and knees, cold stone under his palms. He could barely move, like the air was syrup. But he fought to raise his head and found a familiar-ish sight.

He was in a bizarre knockoff of the Spirit Realm. It had no light or colour, and there were no floating rocks or buildings—no features at all but the platform he was kneeling on and a dark grey void. And though it stretched out to infinity, the place was making Po feel claustrophobic.

...Stuff used to scare him, when he was very little. Thunder, heights, deep water. Other people. But as Po grew up, he recognised that very little in the Valley of Peace could harm him. When he was old enough to go to school, he was already bigger than most adults. None of the class bullies dared to hit him, they just called him names.

They could make him feel sad, but they couldn't make him feel afraid.

Even when he was declared the Dragon Warrior, and it became his duty to face criminals of the worst calibre, he rarely felt fear. He had the best team of kung fu warriors the world had ever seen behind him. And the handful of times he had to go it alone, yes, he was scared. Sometimes terrified. But it was a little spark of emotion in his soul, strong but not overwhelming.

It wasn't like this. Po had never been afraid like this.

There was something so wrong about this realm. Po wasn't supposed to be here—no, this place wasn't supposed to exist. It felt like a gap in the floorboards of the Universe. Where you dropped things, lost them and never got them back.

Po couldn't get up, something was pressing down on him. A nagging thought—what if he couldn't get out of here? He didn't know how he came here in the first place, or why. Was he summoned? Was it an accident? But there's no such thing as accidents, right? Nobody was around to answer his questions, but there were some things Po was sure of, just in himself. This fear, the dread he felt, it didn't belong to him. And this wasn't his place. He had to get away.

He couldn't _move_ though. And if that wasn't enough reason to panic, Po's ears pricked up. He knew he was alone, there wasn't another living being in this whole place, he just knew intuitively that this was true.

So why did he just hear someone whisper?

He had to get away.

_A wise master always accepts the reality of when he needs help._

Po could recall when Shifu told him that. A long time ago, when he asked after the secret of the Five's success.

It was that they worked so infallibly together. Monkey wasn't as fast as Mantis, who wasn't as flexible as Viper, who didn't have a reach like Crane, who wasn't as strong as Tigress. But when they were fighting side by side, it didn't matter. Their strengths were the group's strengths, and it worked because they knew they could rely on each other.

And Po could rely on them too, they proved that countless times. All he had to do was ask, and if they could, any one of them would come for him.

No one would be surprised at who he chose to call on.

"Tigress?"

She answered immediately. Her paw took his shoulder, and Po turned to see her standing over him, as steady as an oak tree. He reached up to touch the paw, reassuring himself that she was actually right here, moving before he remembered how he couldn't. Her fingers felt more real than the ground under Po's knees. Already the fear was easy to ignore.

Po opened his mouth, to ask what she made of this wherever-they-were, but nothing came out. The impulse to speak drained away to nothing as he took in Tigress' peaceful smile. She looked almost mystic.

Her clothing helped with that. Po noted, once he could drag his eyes from his friend's face, that she wasn't wearing her trusty hanfu and breeches. Glancing at her ankles, he saw she wasn't even wearing her protective wrappings. She was in nothing but a long purple dress—Po was struck by how beautiful the colour was in a grey void like this, and how well it complimented her fur. The material was so thin and flowing it was like she was shrouded in mist.

Po didn't think she'd wear something like this in any time or place, but here she was. The sight got weirder the more he stared, especially once he realised the dress was so thin it was partly see-through. He could see that she really was in nothing else. He could count the dark stripes on her thighs, and follow the stretch of white fur that began at her muzzle and ran down her neck and kept going.

Po was fascinated. And confused, and scared again, for a new reason. He snapped his eyes back up to her own, expecting a punch for his ogling. At the very least, he expected her to snarl. Why hadn't she gone full tiger mode on him? He could only see that peaceful smile on her pretty face—pretty...

"T-Tigress." Apparently that was all he could say.

"Po," was all she said back, her voice flowing like her dress.

When she was acting like this, it was easy to relax against her, so much that it startled him when Tigress tugged his shoulder back. He almost fell over, and as he steadied himself on his butt, she stepped across his legs to hover right in front of him.

Po wanted to ask what was going on right now—shouldn't they look for a way out of this realm, or at least find shelter, they were out in the open—but he couldn't. His jaw trembled, trying to make his voice work, until Tigress took it in both her paws, tilted his head up, and leaned down to kiss him.

Right on the mouth. With her mouth.

Wow—what—wow. She kissed him. Actually she didn't stop kissing him, she was still doing it. Po was sure he didn't have all these nerve endings in his face before now. Or all these blood vessels.

Tigress' eyes fluttered shut while Po's stayed wide open. They were stranded and alone together, and she was kissing him, why? Why were his paws flapping around in the air? Why, when it was so unexpected, did Po feel like he'd been waiting for this moment?

And why did she taste so sweet? All she ate was tofu, she couldn't be this good, but she was.

He was too flabbergasted to pull away, so it was Tigress who ended the kiss, eventually. She let him go, her palms leaving a tingle on his cheeks. He would have recovered if she gave him time, but while he was still gaping at her, she pulled the hem of her dress up and dropped herself onto his lap.

Po could feel her weight on him, and the sweeping of her tail between his knees, and he could barely process it, it was too hard to believe. Nobody had ever sat on his lap before, and Tigress was so bold, like she'd already done it ten thousand times.

Without thinking about it, Po took hold of her waist. The fabric of her dress slipped against his fingers, but Tigress felt firm and steady like always. She cupped his face again, guiding Po to look into her eyes. He could see no shame, just an affectionate squint. And a question.

Po didn't know what it was, but he went with what felt right and nodded. Tigress rewarded him with another kiss, sweet like the first. Then she brought her lips to his neck.

It wasn't sweet anymore, sweet made it sound... innocent. She dragged her hips against his thighs, and he became blindingly aware of his burlap shorts and how itchy they were. Her fur on his own, her paws grabbing handfuls of his shoulders and the warm breath against his neck were too many unfamiliar sensations for Po to deal with at once. He broke out into giggles.

He tried to stop himself but it was many many seconds before he regained control. Worried, he searched Tigress' face for offence. But like the kisses, she astonished him by giggling back. Had he ever heard her make a sound like that before?

Tigers didn't giggle. And they didn't grind up against pandas.

She kept it up, pressing in closer and closer. Po gazed down the curve of her back, seeing his paws on her, holding her stiffly, as if her efforts weren't making him feel anything, when nothing could be less true. This was happening right now. He needed to keep up with her.

He followed the flow of the dress, letting it guide him to her hips. He tightened his hold, her pelvic bone jutting out into his palms. Hearing, feeling her sigh into his neck was too encouraging for words, so he kept going down, meeting the edge of her dress and slipping under.

Her thighs really were as soft as he thought they'd be. He pressed his thumbs into her flesh, amazed that he actually could. This was nothing like what he knew of Tigress and all her strong, unforgiving muscle.

Po remembered the time years ago, when he first praised her 'hard style'. Back then he never knew she could be soft in any way. And now he was learning that in some places, her body was just like his.

Actually...

Tigress nipped at Po's neck, the feeling shooting down his spine. Pooling in his lower body, bringing him to a sudden realisation.

They had traded styles. _She_ was soft. He was very, very—

"PO."

He froze. That wasn't Tigress' voice. No, yes it was, but it wasn't _this_ Tigress' voice.

xxxxx

Po jumped so hard, he propelled himself clear out of his crib.

On his belly in the centre of his room, the first thing he noticed was that he'd overslept—the sun was high outside his window. It was a clear and lovely day. Shame about Po's rude awakening.

Majorly disoriented, he whirled around, looking for what woke him. He was even more confused when he didn't see anything, but he didn't have to wait long before he was filled in. Irritated stamping came from the hallway.

"Po, for the last time, open up. My hands are full."

That was definitely Tigress, no one else could make him feel like he was committing a crime in forcing them to wait. Po wobbled as he got to his feet and gave his limbs a quick stretch as he approached the door.

Something was weird. Was it his imagination or did his shorts feel tighter this morning?

Oh. Oh no.

Really? Right now?

It had been YEARS since this happened. Po hadn't had a morning surprise since he was a teenager. And how relieved he was when they stopped. In the long road of humiliations that was his life, they were probably the highest points, and he never ever talked about them. If he couldn't even escape the awkwardness of his own body, he couldn't escape awkwardness anywhere.

And now they'd made a grand return, on the one day Tigress wanted to come in and see him. Of course it had to be her. The last person Po wanted catching him like this. Especially after that dream.

"Uh, sorry Tigress, would you, give me a moment?" He needed something, a cover. But they kept all their towels in the wash house. And none of them had blankets, it was the height of summer, too hot for them.

Tigress scoffed. "You're already late up, why would you possibly need more—"

"Trust me, it would be a really bad idea if you—"

Patience wasn't Tigress' strongest virtue, everyone would agree. He heard the clatter as she dropped whatever she was holding. She swung the door open—time to totally panic.

 _"Don't come in!"_ he shrieked as she came in.

"What's the matter with you?" There was definitely a heap of annoyance in her voice, but a little concern too.

Po fell back, a breath away from fainting. There was one option that might save him, praying to all his ancestors that they stopped Tigress from looking down.

She looked down. "Oh."

Po hoped his ancestors found this hilarious. Ha. Ha.

Why was Po freaking out? Clearly he wasn't awake yet. This was one of those dream-within-a-dream things. Such lethal doses of embarrassment, within two days of each other? He didn't think the Universe could be this cruel.

Tigress averted her eyes, her red cheeks making a furious visit. "I... apologise. I should've listened to you."

"It's okay!" Po squeaked. Now that the door was open, all Po could think of was how this might get worse. He looked in terror at the wall.

Tigress seemed to read his mind. "The others are at the dojo, it's just you and me here."

Po did not need the thrill that those words gave him. He shot up and turned away from her, busying himself with smoothing down his crib and straightening up his pillow. "What do you want?!"

He shouldn't have asked (well, screamed). Tigress might have left if he didn't, but now she had to answer him. She paused first. "I brought you some writing supplies."

Po peeked over his shoulder and saw a dozen rolls of parchment scattered around Tigress' feet. "W-what for?"

She straightened up, standing tall as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. "Now that Oogway has acknowledged you as his successor, Shifu expects that you'll inherit Oogway's clairvoyance. It's important that you keep records of all the visions you will see."

Po barely heard her over the blood rushing in his ears. He definitely didn't understand what little he did hear. "...What?"

Tigress took pity on him. "The Universe is going to start telling you things. Write them down."

This wasn't the best timing for a profound topic of conversation like this. Po knew he needed to calm down. But Tigress was in his room with him right now. It was impossible.

He tried his hardest to ignore his situation. His crib and pillow were the flattest they had ever been after he'd spent the last full minute adjusting them. He couldn't pretend to be busy any longer, so he rested his palms on his bed and continued to avoid looking at Tigress. "But... I haven't heard anything yet."

"Shifu says that probably isn't true, you have already received messages, you simply don't know how to recognise them." Po heard Tigress pick up all the parchment and step further into his room—her being closer wasn't helping him. His head probably looked like a tomato. The head on his shoulders, that was.

"You need to begin with your dreams. What you see in your sleep is the easiest to understand. Your consciousness won't interrupt the messages." Tigress came to the edge of Po's vision, placing everything down neatly in the corner of his room. "Keep a dream diary, next week Shifu will look it over and help you with interpretation."

A dream diary? And Shifu was going to read it? Hahahahahahahaha.

"Po?" Tigress said in alarm.

Oh, he had just laughed out loud. "I'm fine. Sorry. That sounds fine, thanks for the stuff."

Tigress lingered for a moment, probably doubting him. "Okay. I'm going now, see you in the dojo."

Po finally turned to see her slip through the doorway. He wasn't sure why, because he was desperate to be alone, but in a very unreasonable moment, he didn't want her to leave. "Hey Tigress?"

She stopped, and one of her ears faced his direction.

"I guess, uh... We're even now?"

Why did he say that? He had a game plan, to never talk about when he walked in on her. Just call him Po the Self-Sabotaging Panda.

She looked him in the eyes, and Po had no idea how she was going to respond. All the predictions he came up with involved her saying something derisive and then throwing him out of his window.

But she smiled sympathetically, said, "I guess so too," and left without violence.

Once he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, Po shut his door and slumped back down onto the floor. He didn't think he could handle another scenario like this. Even Dragon Warriors had a limit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanna hear a joke? Word count plans LMAO I'm really sorry I'm just a chatterbox


	3. "No, don't go!"

Thinking of food always calmed Po down when he got like this.

Food never betrayed him like his body might. Food was always nice and dependable. Noodles. A tray of cookies fresh from the oven. A bag of prawn crackers as big as his head. Dumplings served on a bare, white-furred midriff, sweet and sour sauce poured across dark stripes, waiting to be licked up—

No no no _no no_. Po put his face in his paws and begged his brain to stop. That stupid dream, why did he have it?

It looked like he was gonna have to break out the big guns and imagine being in one of the icy pools of the Panda Village. And if this didn't work, he'd have no choice but to go find a well and drop himself in it.

He breathed the biggest sigh of relief when his shorts eventually stopped being tight. Well, stopped being as tight, he still had a big butt. It was normal, everything was back to normal.

Last night was so not normal for him. Po had been totally lost in that dream. And he had dreams all the time but he always knew what they were. Even if it was a tiny voice in the back of his head, reminding him that all these epic adventures his brain came up with were just fantasies. The problem was, this time wasn't just fantasy, part of it was memory too. Tigress' legs from the other day, that look of affection she gave him from dozens of times in their shared past. It made everything too real.

Was it an actual vision? Po scoffed at himself. What a dumb thought. Of course it wasn't, and he didn't need Shifu to tell him that. Like heck was Po gonna start a dream diary today and let the old teacher learn what Po felt about his daughter.

What he felt... fine, he said to his brain. It wanted him to admit that he liked her? Like-liked her? He did. He like-liked her.

How could he not? She was incredible. Strong and dedicated and brave and smart and undeniably beautiful. Miles out of his league. The dream _couldn't_ be a vision. She'd never want to be with him.

Po rolled himself up to his feet and looked out the window. From here he could spot a glimpse of the dojo. He sighed, not looking forward to facing the day.

No, what was he thinking? Po was a lot of things—clumsy, silly, awkward like nothing else—but he wasn't defeatist. He was the Dragon Warrior, the Warrior of Black and White and the True Master of Chi. And he was an adorable dumpling, everyone down in the village said so—overall, a pretty good catch.

And Tigress already liked him. She proved that by tolerating his geekouts, eating contests, stammering, and general loud enthusiasm for everything. She did more than tolerate him too, Po often saw a fond smile break past all her seriousness, and sometimes she even joined in on whatever shenanigans Po was up to. If that didn't mean liking, he didn't know what did.

Of course he had a chance. All he had to do was make a move. What was the worst that could happen? Tigress managed to live with everything about him up to this point, so he trusted that she'd let him down easy if she didn't feel the same way.

Po really hoped she did. Feel the same way.

Alright, it was decided. Since he was really gonna do this, he should figure out what to say to her. He took a deep breath, grabbed some of the parchment she brought him, and picked up a brush.

 _Hi Tigress, so you know how things have been unbearably awkward between us lately? Just by accident? Come out to dinner with me tonight and we can make things unbearably awkward_ _**on purpose**_ _!_

No.

_Your eyes are like glistening rubies in the light of the_

No.

_Please date me oh god you're so amazing I'll do anything you want please_

No.

_Hey wanna bang_

Po screwed the parchment up into a little ball and threw it aside. This was tough. He knew it was one of those things you had to get right the first time. So there was a little pressure—he could handle it. He just needed the right words.

Po knew Tigress. He could figure out what she'd react best to. She wasn't one for rambling (unfortunately, as that was his strong suit). She didn't much care for poetry, she didn't respect grovelling and Po doubted she'd appreciate him just blurting out how much he wanted her in his bed.

But maybe there was something he could use in that? Tigress was an honest and straightforward master. If he wanted her to take him seriously, he should be the same.

Po thought through the wording for a long time, then picked up his brush and some more parchment.

_I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?_

Brief and direct. Po stared at the characters he'd stroked out, trying not to second guess himself. There was nothing else he could say, and he didn't want to say any more. This was as good as he could—

A gong sounded out. There was some kind of threat in the Valley.

 _Yes_. Just what Po needed. Impressing Tigress with how well he took down some bad guys might start to make up for all their embarrassments.

He dropped everything and left for work.

xxxxx

Po caught up with the Five halfway down the mountain. Tigress leaped to his side, her best game face on. Right, okay, no distractions between them, he understood. Shifu wasn't with them, most likely because he was in a cave somewhere too far away to hear the distress signal. Not that Po was worried.

He and his friends could handle anything together.

It was uncommon for bandits to prowl at this time of year. The heat discouraged lots of heavy travel over the land, and they liked to wait for harvest time, when they knew there'd be more loot around. Of course, the Valley of Peace was still plentiful now, so Po wasn't surprised that the commotion was coming from the marketplace.

But as the team made their way there, they picked up on how different this was from a normal attack. The main thing, there was nobody in the streets. They couldn't see any strange faces, or even friendly ones—the villagers were already barricading themselves in their homes. Po saw window shutters close on him as he raced by.

It was weird. The little people liked to keep their distance from fights, and Po didn't blame them for that. But they also liked to watch their defenders kicking butt from the sidelines.

Today, his home was a ghost town.

The heroes arrived at the edge of the marketplace, which was filled with a rushing sound, like a strong wind, though there wasn't even a hint of a breeze on Po's fur. Off in a corner, he thought he recognised his goose dad's vegetable cart, full of purchases, overturned, and abandoned. It was just them in this massive plaza.

Them and a single figure, off in the centre, their back to Po and his friends. They hid under a great hooded cloak, dark red like wine. And they were levitating, ten feet above the cobblestone.

Creepy? Yeah. But it was just this one person who made everyone run? Even Po's dad, right after he'd bought a load of expensive produce? Po furrowed his brow. Lots of strange things had come to this valley—the jombies weren't even that long ago—but he rolled with it.

Time to see what this stranger had. Po got ready to belt out a war cry.

Tigress clamped a paw over his mouth before he could make a sound. She pulled him back too, dragging him behind a rice stall with the rest of the Five on their tails.

"Mmpff..." Po pushed Tigress' paw away. "What, what is it?"

She shushed him and he didn't understand why. The mysterious rushing noise, much louder now they were within the market, meant the stranger had no hope of hearing them.

Tigress knew how much Po liked doing the whole dramatic entrance thing! And she never stopped him before. It was the kung fu standard to announce your arrival before a confrontation, so that the other side could see what they were up against and maybe surrender. They rarely did but it was good to lay the option out.

Tigress did nothing without reason. Po watched as she bent down (trying hard not to let his eyes wander below her belt) and poked her head around the side, eying the intruder with gritted teeth.

"...What's the matter?"

She ignored him. Monkey picked up for her, his voice way more sober than usual. "Did you catch what they were holding?"

Po crouched down too, and peeked between bags of rice. In the intruder's hands was an obsidian staff, as tall as they were, the top adorned with a glowing red orb, the size of a fist. Or a heart.

Gazing into its light, Po's stomach turned. "Eugh... what're we looking at?"

"A spellstaff," Crane said. "This is a warlock, Po. He uses dark magic."

"Evil magic," Tigress muttered, still fixed on the stranger.

Mantis spoke up. "But you think all magic is evil."

She didn't contradict him. "Viper, take the first strike. Crane, give her some height." The two warriors nodded before Viper wound herself around one of Crane's legs and he took off. "Monkey, Mantis, come in from below." Together they slid under the stalls and out of sight. "Po, we're taking the sides. Be ready."

She flicked her tail forward, the gesture for Po to follow, and slunk through the stalls, close to the ground.

Po didn't know all that much about magic, and clearly Tigress did. He wasn't going to argue with her, but he _was_ curious. "What's with the stealth mode? It's more honourable to—"

"We forego honour in the face of a threat like this. Trust me."

Po always did, she didn't have to tell him to. He knew how unflappable Tigress was, so if this guy could put her on edge, Po wasn't gonna fool around. He was on her six, creeping up on this warlock guy as quickly and quietly as possible. The figure didn't move at all, though his staff's orb dimmed and brightened in some slow rhythm.

Po thought this was going to be easy. The guy seemed completely oblivious. And when Viper shot from the sky like a falling star, Po thought their timing was especially great today. The snake was within a foot of their target when everyone else leaped in to support her.

Six of the best, most experienced fighters in China, and all the warlock had to do was lift his staff a little.

Po saw reptilian eyes flash his way, felt a gust of hot, red-dusted air slam into his belly, and he was sent through the roof of a stall, wood splitting under him. He heard the sounds of his friends groaning from every direction.

Po got to his feet as fast as his wheezing lungs allowed. So that was the kind of thing this 'dark magic' could do. Tigress had a point in trying stealth mode.

This might not be a super fun fight.

The stranger, some kind of lizard not native to China, turned to Po. He wasn't sure exactly what he expected, but it wasn't a face that looked so young. This guy didn't have much on any of them.

He did look young but he also looked terrible. His scales were grey and peeling from sickness, and the left side of his face sagged, Po guessed from a nervous injury. His eyes were bloodshot too, natural amber chased away by splotches of red.

If the cloak and staff didn't make him look menacing, that did the trick. Though Po might've felt a little bad for him anyway, _if_ he hadn't just punted his best friends across the plaza.

The lizard peered down at him, smirking like Po was an amusing child. Po rolled his shoulders, loosening his joints up. Alright, it was time to get serious.

"Hey, what's your deal?" Po snapped, his voice raised against the sound of the phantom wind. As he focused, he realised it was the staff that sound was coming from. It was wearing on his ears. "You just get your kicks from messing with innocent people or what?"

The lizard didn't answer immediately. Po could tell he was trying to unsettle him. But the Five were back on their feet, forming a wide circle around their foe. Po wasn't alone, so he wasn't worried.

When the lizard spoke, his voice was as sickly as his appearance, hoarse and cold. "I am Bura. I have come a long way to meet you, Po. And what a pleasure it is."

"That's 'Mr. Dragon Warrior' to you, buster. And you've met me now. You oughta go before my friends and I give you the thunder."

Bura chuckled, giving the others a patronising glance before he raised his staff again, and the Five were tugged up into the air. This time, they didn't come back down. The warlock stirred his staff like a spoon in a pot, and sent the Five streaming all around the sky like kites. Po saw Tigress curl into a ball to stabilise herself, while everyone else popped their cheeks out, hoping to keep their breakfast down.

"Not cool, you put 'em down _now_!" Po yelled, jumping up to try and land a kick on this jerk of a lizard. He floated to the left, dodging Po without a problem. Po whirled back to face him. "Why did you come here?!"

"I've heard many stories of your accomplishments, Dragon Warrior. I came to see if you're everything they say you are."

"You better believe I am, and plenty more." Po ducked into a stall, picking up the first thing he could find, which was some kind of stringed instrument. Silently apologising to whoever the stall belonged to, Po dipped back out and threw the thing at Bura's head.

It got close, but before it could land, Bura brought his staff forward to shield himself, and on contact the lute disintegrated as easily as paper in water. Po didn't waste the move though, following up with another hopeful kick. Bura barely dodged him this time, and Po almost got a grip on the warlock's cloak.

Po was annoyed to find that there was still an amused smirk on the lizard's face. "You certainly have some skills. I can see how you could've defeated a Spirit Warrior."

Above Bura's head, the Five had flung their limbs out (not applicable to Viper of course), as if swimming through the air. It looked like Tigress and Crane were trying to get close to each other.

"Though I suppose," Bura continued, "it has more to do with your Treasure than your kung fu, admirable as that is."

"My Treasure?" Po said, trying not make it obvious as he checked how his friends were doing. They seemed to be figuring out how to escape Bura's hold, and if that was the case, the best thing Po could do for them was distract the warlock.

"Yes. I do hope the True Master of Chi is not an idle name."

Po frowned. Bura was here because of how well he could use chi. Between that and his appearance, this might be coming together now. "You know, you've got a funny way of asking for a healing, buddy."

Bura grinned, and Po got an unwelcome view of black fangs and gums. "A generous hero. But I'm not here to ask for your help, I'm here to give my own."

Tigress and Crane reached each other, and she grabbed onto his stalk-like legs so he could swing her around in the direction of the others.

Po stepped to the side, hoping to keep his friends out of Bura's vision. "Okay, I'll bite. What could you help me with?"

"Becoming stronger." The control on Bura's face began to wane, a strange excitement coming over his eyes. "I recognise a kindred spirit in you, Po. You're as naturally powerful as I am, but you won't realise your potential, here in this bland speck of land. I've come to offer you an apprenticeship in the magical arts."

Po? Learn magic? He snuck a quick glance up at Tigress, noticing he had her attention more than the Five did, though by now they'd clumped together and were flying around the sky in a big ball. Tigress shook her head at Po quickly. He didn't need to be told twice.

"You're kind of... obviously evil," Po said as he scowled at Bura. "Or at least really rude. What makes you think I'd ever accept an offer like that?"

"Because chi isn't everything. It isn't even the greatest force in this world. It is only one Treasure, but I can lead you to another."

Like a reverse tug-of-war, Po saw the Five smash against each other in two teams. With Tigress' Double Palm Strike included, they worked up enough force to push themselves out of the current Bura used to keep them up. It rained kung fu warriors, and they hit the ground with flourish. Bura turned to see them all surrounding him again, and Po was getting really annoyed that the guy wouldn't stop sneering.

Po flexed his arms, ready to help his friends make another move. "And what's that?"

Bura raised his staff again, gesturing to its red orb. "One way or another, you'll soon find out."

Po meant to reply to the thinly-veiled threat with his fists but before he could lead the charge forward, Tigress put herself in his way. The others jumped in without them, and Po watched as Bura dodged Monkey and Crane, and slammed Mantis and Viper away from him like his staff was a war hammer.

The two cold-blooded members of the Five hit the ground hard. Viper had taken the most contact, and she was left with a hissing burn on her stomach. She curled in on herself, trying to bear the injury.

It was getting real now. Po joined in on the wave of anger bursting from his friends.

Bura looked on unbothered as Crane and Monkey hurried Viper and Mantis to cover. "These little exercises of yours are wearing on my nerves. Po, come with me and I won't disturb your so-called Valley of Peace any longer."

"He's not going anywhere with you," Tigress said, holding her defensive stance in front of Po. Her voice was so fierce, Po could've believed this warlock had just personally threatened Lei Lei.

Bura turned his gaze to Tigress, acknowledging her for the first time.

Po watched as, for a second, every trace of amusement left Bura. In their place, all the muscles that still worked on his face contorted into the ugliest, most vicious thing Po had ever seen. And it wasn't something Po could make any sense of, like some kind of battle-frenzy. Bura had pure murder in his eyes.

Only for a second, and then it was all gone. Bura returned to his smug smirk. But Po was worried now. It was Tigress who should have a body shield, not him.

"Master Tigress..." the lizard sighed, now beaming at her. "A pleasure to see you as well. You're even more beautiful than I expected." His scaly hands tightened on his staff. "But just as sickly."

Po had less than no idea what the lizard meant. What he did know was that he didn't like how the guy's attention was now fixed on Tigress.

"That's rich coming from you," Po said. He suspected that the lizard was using magic to keep himself going, because he looked too bad to even stay upright with natural strength.

Bura laughed at Po like he was a friend, and finally floated down to stand on the ground. He had a slight hunch to his shoulders but still came to the same height as Po.

"I'll admit, you have a point," Bura said. "But not every sickness is on the outside like mine. You know that, don't you, Tigress?"

He stepped slowly toward them and the rushing of his staff got louder. Tigress growled a warning at their foe, and with her elbow, shoved Po a few steps back. But she stood her own ground.

The rest of the Five made their comeback, Viper and Mantis looking much better. Po had been so focused on Bura, he didn't even notice when the others healed them. They encircled Bura one more time, weary, eying Tigress for a signal.

More sick excitement rose up on Bura's face. "You know what I'm referring to. I can see into your soul, my dear. I know that it's grey with corruption."

He raised his staff high and wheeled it around. The obsidian melted down to a small hilt, while the red orb blossomed out into a wide, gleaming blade. Within seconds, the spellstaff became a broadsword.

"Hold still," Bura said, pointing his weapon at Tigress. "I'll free you from it."

Tigress scoffed. "My corruption, or my soul?"

Bura leered and sprang forward. Just from watching, Po could tell that the lizard had nothing on Tigress' reflexes. She was twice as fast as him, or faster.

But there was a reason they hadn't defeated the lizard yet. "No, don't go!" Po tried, but she'd already leapt forward.

The lizard swung his blade, and the tiger could've dodged it effortlessly, if it stayed where she expected it to. As it was, the moment Tigress got within punching distance, the lizard disappeared. Just phased out of existence, and her fist hit nothing but air.

He didn't stay gone for long. He flashed back in, just behind Tigress, keeping the momentum of his swing. His blade was going to land right on—right _through_ her back, and she wouldn't even see it coming.

"No—" Po and his other friends cried together.

A blur of yellow and blue streaked in from just above Po's head, and barrelled into Tigress. She rolled across the cobblestone for a few turns before Mantis jumped in to stop her trajectory. Bura's sword finished its arc, still clean.

The blur skidded to a stop, and whistled. "Phew, a close one. Watch out next time, Tigress."

The new arrival was a guy Po had never met before, though he recognised the style of dress. He looked like a kung fu master in his form-fitting blue vest and breeches. Everyone gaped, even Bura was caught off guard, though he recovered first.

"...Master Lion," he snarled. "You followed me here."

"Of course, Bura," the golden lion said cheerfully, settling himself in a battle stance. "I got bored waiting for you back home. So I've come, and found you harassing old friends of mine—that's disappointing, I expected better from you."

Old friends? Po looked around for the Five to help him out because he was lost. He was taken aback when he couldn't see them, but didn't have to look for where they'd gone. He felt a smooth coil wrap around one of his ankles, and Viper tugged him back behind another stall, where everyone had regrouped.

"O-okay, someone fill me in," Po said, as the sound of laughter and Bura's swinging sword drifted from out in the open. "Who's this new dude?"

"A longstanding ally of the Jade Palace," Crane said.

"We haven't seen him in, like, forever," Mantis said. "Seems he's been busy fighting this warlock."

Po turned to Tigress and checked her out— _over_ , checked her over. Her lips were pressed together in annoyance at herself, but Po's first thought was just thankfulness that things didn't end the way Bura wanted them to.

"Are you okay?" Po asked her.

She nodded stiffly, staring out to where this ally of theirs was stepping to Bura. The lizard tried his teleportation trick a few more times, but the lion seemed to know the tactic well and dodged fluidly.

Po scratched the back of one paw, still feeling out of the loop. If his friends and Lion went way back, did the same go for Bura? "Do you know that warlock?" Po asked, directing his question at Tigress. "The stuff he was saying, it kinda sounded like—"

"No, I don't." Her voice was icy, and Po was concerned. Something about Bura had gotten under her skin. "But he's about to know me. Stay back." She leapfrogged over the stall and back into the fight.

"Whuh—" Po spluttered, vindicated by everyone else's looks of shock. "Just wait a hot second!" He of course ignored her command and jumped after her, ready to help.

Though she didn't need it. Po could tell Bura was strong but he wasn't a warrior. He didn't think like one, he was too confident, and unable to react to the tide turning in a battle. The unexpected lion was distracting Bura so much, Tigress got the chance to land a solid palm strike on his blade. It crashed to the ground, and he went down with it rather than drop his weapon.

Tigress ignored the burn on her palm. Not because it wasn't a bad one—she just couldn't feel it, Po knew. She sneered down at the enemy the way he'd done to Po. "Last chance," she said, "do as the Dragon Warrior told you and _go_."

On his knees, Bura hissed in fury and swiped his sword around in the air. It reverted to the spellstaff, and he raised its nauseating orb at Tigress. Po thought he had a pretty good idea of what the warlock was about to do, and in his opinion, Tigress had been thrown around enough today. She bounded up, aiming to swipe at the warlock with her heel, but Po could see she wouldn't deliver in time. As Bura arched his staff forward, Po intercepted.

This hit was different. First off, the gust of air caught Po right in the face, making his eyes sting like crazy, and when he breathed in, the hot dust burned the whole way down to his lungs. It was painful enough that he barely noticed when he rammed into Tigress and crashed through a nearby wall with her.

The landing was bad, but the hit had something worse to it. Feeling like he could throw up, Po tried to rise from his bed of rubble, or at least raise his head, but he couldn't. His muscles were lax, vision blurry and ears ringing. It wasn't a concussion, he had a thick skull.

It was some kind of hex. All his concentration was draining out of him. He reached out blindly, trying to figure out if he was facing the sky or the ground, and he caught hold of a striped arm. Po put everything he could muster into getting his vision back, and saw Tigress' blurry face look down on him in worry.

"Po, get up!"

Po tried to say he couldn't. Tigress snapped her gaze to the lizard advancing on them.

The lion and the Five tried to rush Bura from behind. They didn't even get close when Bura tilted his staff back and a massive wall of red glass rose up from the ground, cutting Po and Tigress off from their support.

Oh great. Po tried to shove at Tigress, to make her back away, but she just had to annoy him and stay by his side.

"The sheer loyalty you have," Bura said to her. "Don't you know that you'll end up regretting it? Leave or suffer. These are your choices."

Tigress did not back down. In her last move of the fight, she growled and carefully draped herself across her fallen friend.

"Very well."

"Look out!" their friends shouted.

Tigress did—she saw head on as Bura brought his staff down on her. It didn't touch her, but that didn't matter. Red dust shot from the orb and seeped into her face.

As if it was burning ash, Tigress shrieked and brought her face down, swiping frantically at herself, trying to get the dust out of her eyes.

Po had been nowhere close to throwing up before.

There was a flash of blue light and Po heard something shatter—the red wall. The others leapt on a startled Bura, and at any other moment, Po would've cared what was going on. But now all he could see was Tigress cringing against whatever Bura had given her. Po forced himself to get up and grab her arms.

"Tigress...?"

She blinked a few times and looked up at him. Po waited anxiously, expecting to see more of her hurting. But Tigress' watery eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a grimace, not of pain but of horror.

"P-Po..."

That was the last word Po heard before Bura was levitating above them, swinging his staff over their heads. The rushing sound was deafening, a hole in the air tearing open all around them.

When Tigress fell through, Po was right beside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's an iguanas favorite movie? The Lizard of Oz bahahahahahaha funny joke
> 
> Bura isn't an iguana, sorry. Misleading joke


	4. "I'm right here."

Po might've passed out for a minute. His eyes had clamped shut, and when he opened them again, he wasn't immediately sure he was awake. His brain was scrambled better than an egg.

The marketplace was all gone—now he was on a great grassy hill. From where he lay face up, there was a treeline just above his head, and wide open sky before him. The hot sun beat down, and when he turned his head to avoid its glare, in the distance was a blurry version of the Jade Palace, the back of it. Bura had teleported them miles away.

Them—Tigress wasn't in his paws anymore. He sat up, too fast, and his head pounded in punishment. He ignored it, he had to. He needed to find her.

Strained gasps came from behind him. He whirled around to see Tigress just in front of the trees, keeled over, in a bow fit for an emperor with her forehead pressed into the grass. She had a paw over her chest, like she was trying to hold it together.

It wasn't working great, she was hyperventilating.

Po crawled to her, tripping on his arms a few times as he went. He probably looked like one of the village drunkards—he _felt_ drunk, he'd never been so disoriented in his life. And Tigress was looking even worse.

He took her shoulders and pulled her to her knees. She whined in protest and tried to struggle away from him.

"Hey, hey, it's me." Po peeked up, looking for their friends, the lion, or Bura. But he and Tigress were the only ones who had taken this instant journey out of the village. "It's just me. Hold up and breathe."

"I can't—I—I can't."

Po had never heard her panic before. Her voice sounded like someone else's entirely.

He tried to keep the shakiness in his own voice to a minimum. "Sure you can. Deep breaths, like when we meditate. Breathe in, then out. In... then out. You got it, you're okay."

Tigress did calm down a little, though at Po's last words, she shook her head and screwed up her face. "Po... Po..."

"I'm okay too, see?" Po tucked his knuckles under her chin and brought her face up to his.

Her grimace softened into a look of bewilderment. Her eyes darted all around his face, like she was taking in every detail. "...Po?"

He frowned at her and squeezed her shoulders. "Yeah?" She brought her paws to his face. Po felt their claws scrape his skin as she gripped his fur. "Uh, what's happening right now?" Po asked her. Her palms were red-hot, but the intensity of her eyes was making him feel cold.

"I just saw you die."

"...What?"

Any returning control in her voice disappeared again. "Just now. I saw your face. You couldn't breathe. And I couldn't get to you. I didn't. I didn't save you—"

"Tigress," Po said softly. He felt terrible. She never should've shielded him. "Listen, I'm fine. Bura hit you with his magic, he must've made you hallucinate. What you saw wasn't real. You can see me now, right? I'm fine."

Tigress took some more deep breaths, not looking convinced at all. She brought her touch to Po's chest, pressing her paws into him like she was checking how solid he was.

"Who's Bura?" she asked.

Po didn't think she was serious. A few seconds of silence later, he realised she'd never joke at a time like this. Wow. This spell, or hex or whatever, was really strong. "The... warlock lizard guy? He came to the marketplace and we had a fight? Don't you remember?"

She stared at him in concern, as if he was the one hallucinating here. He couldn't get over how intensely she was looking at him. They were so close that he could make out the little flecks in her otherwise flawless red irises. Everything past her, the trees and sky, ran together like a water-damaged painting.

Tigress' eyes fell, unlocking their gazes, and Po expected to feel relief. But then she refocused on his lips, and his mind was filled with the last two days of awkwardness between them—the celebration day, the dream and this morning. But remembering everything now, while Po could feel Tigress' still hurried breaths on his face, the memories didn't really feel awkward anymore.

He didn't know what he was feeling. And he couldn't tell what she was feeling either.

Until her brow furrowed in determination. "You," she breathed. "All I remember is you."

She kissed him. Po learned that his dream wasn't accurate. A real life kiss from Tigress wasn't so calm and delicate. It was hot, heavy, clumsy, and so much better than the dream.

Po thought he was in trouble before, with the hit Bura gave him. Now he was a goner. It was impossible to think about anything but her mouth on his—he couldn't even think about staying upright. He fell on his back again, and barely noticed, because Tigress followed him, clinging to him, not letting up for a long long moment.

She did eventually back off for air, and heaven graced Po with a second of clarity. That, what Tigress had just done, it felt so perfect, but...

This wasn't the time. From her perch on his belly, Tigress looked down on Po with bleary eyes. She'd just been hallucinating and she couldn't even remember who their attacker was. And Po was a mess too. It was unbelievably difficult, it felt wrong in every way, but he forced himself to push Tigress off.

She slipped from his belly, looking stricken. "No, don't." She tried to bring her face to his again but Po held her at bay by her collarbone.

"Tigress," he grunted as he lifted himself up again. He didn't know how many more times he could do this before he passed out for good. "You're not thinking clearly."

He should've figured out that saying this wasn't going to help the situation. Tigress clutched at his arm, digging her claws in. "Don't leave me."

Po winced, but didn't try to take his arm back. He didn't know how badly Tigress might scratch him in her delirium. "I'm not leaving you. I'm right here."

Tigress dipped her head down and rubbed it against Po's arm. Such an affectionate gesture... she'd never do this if she was in her rational mind. "You can't leave," she whispered urgently. "Stay close to me. I have to protect you."

This was maybe the sweetest thing she'd ever said to him, even if it was irrational as heck. In this state she couldn't even protect herself.

Po didn't tell her this. The idea of upsetting her any further was appalling. "I think you could use a little help first." She had to come back to herself. Po thought about his chi, maybe that would fix her.

Tigress nodded up at him, staring again. She sheathed her claws so that she could snake her paws up his arm, claiming as much of him as she could reach. "Help me, Po. I need you."

Po was about to take his paw back so he could do the chi summoning gesture, but he was stilled by her words. He could hear it in her voice, that this was really how she felt down to the core.

He shouldn't have let himself get distracted. Even while hexed, Tigress recognised the weakness. She sprung on him again, and her returning lips immediately overwhelmed him. He wasn't going to make her stop this time, he couldn't. She said she needed him.

Po kissed back, cluelessly. He couldn't tell what he was doing, except that it was sloppy. If kissing was a kung fu move, he'd be pulling a muscle. If it was cooking, he'd be burning his meal.

Tigress didn't seem to care. She rewarded him for his efforts with a deep moan. Po could've sworn he felt that in his teeth.

She might have the stronger hex, but he was getting forgetful too. There was someone they needed to be stopping, the Valley needed defending, Po remembered, but then Tigress licked at him, her barbed tongue making his lips buzz—and that was it. Po's severely handicapped concentration was at its limit.

Tigress rose up against his body, pressing her stomach into his chest, and forcing his neck to tilt back. Her fingers ran through his fur, seemingly everywhere at once.

It was too intense. Po really was gonna pass out if Tigress didn't ease up on him. But he couldn't pull away to tell her. He had to make her slow down.

It was difficult, but Tigress was excellent motivation for Po to move. He grabbed her by her waist and forced the both of them to their feet, keeping their lips together the whole way up. Then he pushed forward like this was a grappling match. Any other time, it would never be so easy to take her ground. Today, Tigress was hexed out of her mind. Po soon had her pinned to the nearest tree trunk, and when her back hit the bark, she pulled away to give a harsh groan.

"Sorry," Po gasped against her mouth.

She shook her head in dismissal and took his jaw in her paws. As the two of them panted to catch their breath, Po found himself in a staring contest. His mouth went dry—Tigress' eyes were so dilated, they acted like mirrors. In them he could see his own blown-out eyes.

Wow. They were in too deep here.

Tigress couldn't stay standing. Her knees buckled, and as she fell she tugged Po down with her. He landed half on top of her, his hips between her legs.

They gasped together. Not because of the fall. Because of what they could feel between them. Po seized up almost entirely. He didn't even breathe. The only part of him that moved was in his shorts.

Oh. _God_. He was hard.

Harder than this morning, or any morning, or any afternoon, evening, dusk, dawn, weekday, weekend, or holiday when he had ever been hard. He was so _naive_! Thinking that a few hours ago, when Tigress walked in on him, was the worst it could get. Now, he was on the most private part of her, rock solid.

Tigress wouldn't murder him for this. She wouldn't murder him for anything. But she would hate him. He couldn't think of anything more painful than that.

"I'm—I'm—"

Sorry wasn't a good enough word, it wasn't even in the same country as one that was. Po was horrified. And mortified. And _still on top of her!_

He tried to scramble away. But Tigress gripped his fur so tightly it would rip out before he could go.

"Po. No. 'Hold up and breathe', you said."

Po didn't know how she expected him to do that. And he didn't know why, apart from the touch of a slur in her words, she sounded very calm and normal. What could be normal about this? "You're... not angry?"

"Angry?" She tilted her head at him absent-mindedly, as if the word didn't mean anything to her. "Flattered."

_"Flattered?"_

She gave him an affirmative hum, dropped her gaze, and swiped her hanfu trail out of the way so she could see the bulge in his shorts. "This," she said as she brushed her thumb over it, "is for me. Isn't it?"

Her touch was light as a butterfly and it still robbed Po of the power to speak. When Tigress looked back up at him, her eyes half-lidded from intoxication, and desire, he could only nod.

"Flattered." She smiled. She brought her paws back around his neck, and kissed him, and didn't stop there.

Tigress thrust her hips up on his arousal, and before he could get over this first time, she did it again, and again. He never would've believed she'd be this soft, dream or no dream. Through their two layers of clothes, Po felt her mound cave against him. Such a beautiful, inviting sensation.

A breathy sigh drifted over Po's ears. Tigress was so into this, into _him_ , he knew she was, he could feel her pulse through her breeches. Or maybe that was his own. He stared at her open-mouthed, pink-tinged face, trying to find a shred of reluctance, but there wasn't one.

Tigress stared back. "Po, come on. Follow me."

She made this sound like it was just some new training drill in the dojo, but her speech was getting shakier with every word. Po felt her grab one side of his pelvis, making him jolt. She brought his hips forward in a rhythm to match her own. When she came up, she made him go down, and this extra friction had his muscles singing.

He groaned before he could stop himself, and Tigress immediately groaned back. Po was amazed. Not just because of how good that felt, but because of Tigress. Even in the state she was in, she timed that perfectly. For a second, he could feel every inch of her against every one of his inches.

This was amazing, but it could get better. Right now, it was too slow.

Po pulled Tigress' paw off his hip, took hold of hers, and thrust in his own power, much faster than she did—harder too. She gasped and stalled, thrown out of her rhythm, and Po would never be able to describe how satisfying that felt. He could count on one paw how many times he'd truly caught Tigress off guard in years of sparring with her, and each time made him want to party. This was a thousand times better.

Her paw returned to the back of his neck, and clutched at his fur. He wavered a little after that. It was hard to keep a steady pace with the way Tigress was now writhing against him, fluid and unpredictable. He kept going, and every move he made was encouraged by more and more of her moans.

The good feeling, the pleasure he felt, he expected it to grow. And it did, but it was matched by a growing frustration. He kept having the thought, that what they were doing wasn't right. It wasn't the right way of doing this. He was burning up in his shorts. And he could see beads of sweat on Tigress' neck. With her stuffy kung fu uniform, she was burning too.

Po let his gaze drift down to the spot he was working over. He wondered how exactly Tigress looked under her breeches, irritated that he couldn't already see.

They weren't supposed to be wearing clothes. He wasn't supposed to be _outside of her_.

"Tigress." All he could manage was a whisper. "I need to..." He slowed down his thrusts, trying to come to a stop, but his partner growled in protest.

"No, please." She picked up his fallen rhythm and clung even tighter. "I'm so close."

Already? Po didn't think they'd been doing this for long. He glanced at the treeline they were on. The shadows of the great trunks had moved a lot. Time flies when you, um, get busy with your best friend.

It didn't matter. Tigress wasn't lying, Po could tell. She spasmed against his hardness, her covered lips trying to latch onto him. It was the best feeling yet, and how much better would it be if there was only skin and fur between them.

But her next moan was full of distress, and Po couldn't muster the willpower to stop their contact for one second. Even if it would give him the chance to undress her, he wasn't cruel enough to leave her wanting.

He started his thrusts up again, even faster now, soon panting hard just like Tigress was. Her desperation was infectious. It wasn't long before he made an error in his timing, accidentally coming forward at the same time Tigress did. His arousal caught against her pubic bone, the feeling so powerful that he cried out into her ear, making it flicker.

It was more stimulation than she could take. She slammed her knees into Po's sides, tilted her head back against the tree, and gave the sky her own cry of ecstasy.

The most beautiful sound ever, that was all he could think of it. Po watched Tigress shut her eyes against the wave of pleasure she was riding. He watched her fur splay out, and her stomach ripple under her hanfu, and he was in awe, and proud at the same time.

He had done this for her. He made her feel this good. Would it make up for everything? He hoped so because he couldn't do any more. Watching her brought him to his own climax.

Po leaned forward and pressed his forehead into her chest, groaning as all his muscles locked up. He'd never felt this kind of pleasure before, so he wasn't prepared for how his body felt like it was cracking open. It wasn't painful—except for a slight cramp in his foot—but it was as intense as pain.

All his muscles relaxed and he collapsed on Tigress, limp as a noodle and panting like crazy. It was over... kind of a bittersweet thing. He wished they could have held out a little longer.

Because it was _awesome_. No wonder all the village kids talked about it all the time. Before now, Po relied on just kung fu and eating for all his fun, so he never knew. His shorts felt a little damp, but that was the one bad thing. He only hoped Tigress felt as good as he did now.

"You helped me," she murmured, a delicious shiver in her voice. "I said I needed you and you helped me. Now I can protect you again. I'm for you."

What on earth was she... dammit, Po hadn't healed her, she was still hexed. He looked up at her. She was...

She looked stunning. Beaming, her eyes so bright they were glowing. _Really_ glowing, with a wild red light. Wait.

Tigress wasn't a Spirit Warrior. Her eyes only reflected light, they didn't emit it.

There was something in Po's peripheral vision. The relaxation he took from his climax drained away into worry. He looked down, having no idea what he'd find.

The glow. It was coming from... him? His belly, burning red the way his palms burned gold when he summoned his chi. But he didn't summon anything now. At least not intentionally...

He wasn't left alone for long. By Po's face, red light blossomed out of Tigress' own belly, spilling out of her hanfu. It was as warm as a campfire, but the heat was pleasant as it sank into him, even in this hot summer's day.

Gazing into it, Po realised that the light was making him feel drowsy. Like it was hypnotising him. He could probably resist, if that was the only test on his overworked mind. But Tigress draped her arms around his head, in the most pleasing, comforting gesture possible. He couldn't resist her too.

He snuck his arms around her back in reply. Right after that, he fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna say, I hella don't endorse intoxicated sex in real life, stay safe kiddos! Also I don't endorse dry humping either, in fic it might be satisfying but IRL? ://
> 
> Smutty smutty sin sin smutty sin sin smutty smutty sin sin


	5. "You'll be fine."

Po's dream started off nice this time.

Way better than nice. He was sitting in the not-Spirit Realm again, and this time he didn't have to wait for Tigress to join him. She was already here, on his lap in her purple dress, her arms around his neck and head resting on his shoulder.

Po wasn't paralysed again. He was free to hold her, and rest his own head against hers. This place, while still ugly and grey, wasn't even a little frightening anymore. As long as Tigress was here, he had a feeling he could stay here for an age and still be content.

They only stayed for a second.

Po turned his head to look Tigress in the eye, and that seemed to be some kind of cue. The realm shattered open in a lightning strike. All the grey vanished, replaced with a dead night. There was no moon and stars, just a blanket of stormclouds. They were back in the Mortal Realm. Specifically thirty feet above an ocean.

With nothing underneath to keep them up, they dropped like stones. Po's grip on Tigress went lax with shock and she fell away from him. He tried to reach out to her. He couldn't get to her. What a mistake.

They hit the water hard. It was so cold, Po gasped, and took in a mouthful of seaspray for his effort. He clambered to bring his head up above the surface. Just as he tried, a wave toppled him over. His head swung under the water like a pendulum.

His eyes stung. The sea was even darker than the sky. He was almost totally blind. The only thing that broke into his vision was a faint red glow, familiar, from Tigress' navel. She sank so fast, she was already far below him. He shouldn't have ever let go of her.

He tried to call out her name. How stupid was that? He barely cried out "Ti—" and lost most of the little air he'd caught in his lungs. Panic, he couldn't help it. Tigress was going to drown.

She couldn't have heard him, but in the light of her body's glow, Po saw her look up at him. Before she fell too far to see, Po saw how her body was slack, her limbs dragging above her as she sank, as if she was unconscious, but she wasn't. Po stared at her face, recognising with confusion and terror what was on it.

Calm acceptance. She wasn't trying to save herself at all. The only thing she did was shake her head up at Po. Then she shut her eyes, and her red glow faded away. She was swallowed up by the darkness.

Po didn't care about his air anymore. He wailed, " _No,_ " bubbles rushing past his blind eyes. Even if Tigress heard him, she didn't come back, no matter the despair in Po's voice.

She was going to drown. He was going to fail her.

xxxxx

Well that was just the _worst_. Po woke up to the sun low in the sky, and his heart slamming against his ribcage. His body was trying so hard to be on high alert, but he just didn't have the energy for it. He couldn't get more exhausted than this.

He blinked sleep out of his eyes and flexed his paws. They were numb from being trapped under Tigress, but he was just glad that she was still in his arms. Their fur was drier than Mantis' wit, and they were still on their hill, miles and miles away from the sea. No more teleporting or fantastic realms.

Tigress... Po scrunched his face up and hid his muzzle in her hanfu. She was still asleep, so he didn't let himself feel embarrassed that he was acting as clingy as Lei Lei. Why did he have to see something so awful? He refused to believe that was a vision. No matter what Shifu thought, Po could _not_ see the future. It was just a dream.

Just like that first kiss in Grey Place. Just like when Po pinned Tigress to the tree and they ground up against each other until they... felt...

No, that wasn't a dream. That _actually happened. Just now._

Po tugged his arms out from around Tigress' back, propped himself up and gaped down at her sleeping form. They really just—they—Po didn't even know?! What did they call that?! Did that count as _sex_?! What came over them?

He had a lump the size of a peach in his throat. How was she going to react? How were they supposed to deal with this? Were they just going to gloss over it like they did with everything else?

Why did that thought sting so much?

He had too many questions. He needed to chill out, wake Tigress up, and talk to her. She would know the best move to make. Whatever she said, Po would follow her lead. Heaven knew he wouldn't come up with a better idea.

"Um, Tigress?" He shook her shoulder gently, bracing himself in case she lashed out. It wasn't likely, considering how good her self-control was (when not magic-dusted by a warlock).

She didn't lash out. She didn't open her eyes either.

"Tigress...?" As if he needed to worry about her any more than he already did. Now she wasn't waking up. "Tigress, come on." He tapped her cheek, nothing. He flicked one of her ears. It twitched but she didn't stir. She was breathing, that was pretty much it.

"Oh no." What should he do? He had no idea what Bura had done to her. Or what _he'd_ done to her. At least she was conscious before. He somehow made her worse.

Chi. He should've healed her hours ago. That would've been the smart, sensible, caring thing to do, instead of just letting his hormones run away with him.

Okay, Po could beat himself up later. He'd put this off long enough. He brought his curled fingers together and swept them out in the familiar motion. It was like damp tinder, hard to ignite at first, but soon the energy of the Universe heard his beckoning and came shining out of his palms.

He took Tigress' paw, the one burned from Bura's sword, between his own paws. The raw skin glowed as it soaked up his chi, and soon was as good as her calloused palms could get. Po kept going and let his energy flow up through Tigress' arm into the rest of her. All the little scratches and scrapes from the fight cleared up until she looked as scarless as a newborn baby, but she still didn't wake.

"Tigress, get up, right now. If you do, I promise I'll cook your favourite meal tonight. And do all your chores for a month. And never do anything to annoy you ever again."

He waited. Tigress didn't say anything—someone else did.

A strong voice that didn't belong to anyone in the Valley, or Bura, called out from the distance. "Ti...! Tigress...! Master Panda...!"

It had to be the lion from earlier. Tigress' defender. Po dragged himself to his feet and took a few steps in the voice's direction. As he moved away, he glanced back at Tigress. His ears flattened—she looked very vulnerable, alone like this.

Facing forward again, Master Lion came into Po's view at the bottom of the hill. He was jogging along on all fours, scanning the landscape carefully. "Ti...!" he yelled again, before he turned and caught sight of Po watching him. Suspiciously.

The rest of the Five and Bura were nowhere to be seen. In Po's opinion, it was a little questionable that Lion managed to ditch everyone and find the general area that Po and Tigress ended up in. He frowned down at the stranger.

Lion on the other hand smiled brightly and steered toward the panda. He made it up the steep hill easily, much more easily than Po would've, which for some reason was irritating.

"Master Panda!" Lion skidded to a stop in front of Po. "Or, well, I'm supposed to address you by your main title. The Dragon Warrior! It's an honour to meet you." This guy was... chipper. Po probably would've appreciated it, if he wasn't extremely worried for Tigress at the moment. He opened his mouth, not sure what he intended to say, but Lion carried on. "Really, I've heard so much, very cool to meet a celebrity like you. Though I wish it was under better circumstances, ha ha. Bura's a jerk. But hey, at least nobody got seriously hurt. Especially not Tigress. She's gonna be sulking for days over how she needed saving! Ha! Where is she, anyway?"

Lion's speech was very loud and fast. It was a little bamboozling. Po had barely processed the question before Lion tilted his head around Po's girth and noticed Tigress lying on the ground.

"Oh no..." Lion's chipper demeanour drained away in an instant. He sidestepped Po and dashed to the fallen warrior, kneeling down next to her. "What happened?"

Po rushed to Tigress' other side and held one of her paws tightly. A bitter taste seeped into his mouth over how effortlessly Lion had made it to her. Po was so slow to react, and if the stranger meant to do her harm, then Po would have been shamefully bad at defending his friend.

Thankfully, according to the people Po trusted, Lion was an ally. Even if something about him was rubbing Po up the wrong way. It must just be a personality thing.

Lion stared at the panda, now serious. Po realised he was waiting for a response to his question.

"The warlock hit her with some spell, just before he zapped us away. She was acting weird earlier, and now she won't wake up. I tried to use chi to heal her but it doesn't seem like it's something physical..." Po didn't feel right. He felt like he was exposing his friend. But he didn't think keeping the situation from Lion was a good idea either.

Lion stared down at Tigress for a moment. Then he closed his eyes and began to perform a foreign technique. He raised his right paw to the sky, pointing his first two fingers up. Then he swiped his left arm in the air above Tigress' head, then held it bent at the elbow across his chest.

"What're you doing?" Po asked, more than a little urgently. Tigress had been through enough today without more freaky magic or whatever Lion was attempting to do here.

"Oh, yeah, should've explained," Lion said as he continued with his technique. He brought his right paw down gracefully and rested it on his left, palms up. "It's a basic checking spell, it'll tell us what Bura did."

Po watched, apprehensive, as faint blue light rose from out of Lion's head, streaming out through his mane. He opened his eyes and placed his paws on Tigress' forehead.

Or he tried to. There was a flash of red, and Lion snatched his paws away as if Tigress had burned him, though Po kept his hold on her paw and didn't feel anything. The light in Lion's mane snuffed out, and he looked momentarily shocked.

Then his expression changed to the very intimating snarl that came naturally to felines.

_"That bastard."_

Po was taken aback by the language. He had never heard a kung fu master swear before. They were supposed to exercise the highest self-control, which went for their speech as well as their actions. But Po wasn't about to reprimand this cat like he was a misbehaving student. Mostly because he was too concerned with what could possibly make a master's self-control crack.

He glanced back and forth between the cats. "What? What's he done to her?"

Lion didn't say anything for a moment. It seemed he was trying to compose himself. When he looked back up at Po, his eyes were softer, but had a streak of bridled fury through them.

"I'm sorry but I'd rather not explain this more than once. We need to go talk with your grandmaster right away."

Po nodded as calmly as he could. It would be so easy to panic, but he was going to get answers soon, right? And honestly, what problem couldn't be solved with a little hard work and determination? Even a magical problem that he had no knowledge or experience in.

Tigress was going to be fine.

Lion brought his arms under her upper back and knees, and as he got to his feet he brought her up with him. Po was struck with the feeling that there was something very wrong about the picture in front of him. "No no, I'll carry her back." He sprang to his feet so fast he made himself visibly dizzy.

Lion raised his eyebrows at him. "Is that a good idea?"

"Yeah, I insist," Po said and reached out. Lion must have read in his face that there was no point in arguing because he passed Tigress over peacefully. Po raised her up close to his chest, letting her head lean against his shoulder. Just because she was unconscious didn't mean she had to be uncomfortable. He checked her face. There was tension in her brow and her eyelids were heavy. She and Po must have been asleep for a few hours but she looked like she hadn't slept in a week.

"Don't worry," Lion said. When Po glanced up, he saw a sympathetic smile. "This draining curse won't keep her under for much longer. Come on, your team's worried about the two of you."

They started down the hill, Lion taking the lead while Po hung back, being careful with every step. It was getting dark and it would be a while before they got home but he wasn't going to take chances, not with Tigress. She'd been through enough.

They trekked in silence for a while. Po was concentrating too hard on avoiding unsteady ground and keeping Tigress' neck straight to want to engage in any chit-chat. But once they got to the open plains, Po remembered everything he and Tigress had left behind when they teleported.

"Hey, what happened back in the market? Is Bura still there?"

"No way, he's long gone." Lion sneered. "He's nowhere near as powerful as he pretends to be. Using a lot of magic exhausts him, and he has to slime away to recover. I'm surprised he was bold enough to pick a fight with even more masters. Sooner or later, he's gonna bite off more than he can chew. That'll be a beautiful sight."

Po nodded slowly. "So, you're a kung fu master too? I've never heard of you." That came out a little ruder than Po intended, but the point still stood. Nobody knew more about masters than he did, he'd been reading up about them for years. But a 'Master Lion'? He'd never seen the name in any scroll. Suspicion filled him again.

Lion shrugged. "I guess you couldn't have. I was only honoured with the title a year ago, and me and my friends were sent out of China right after. Haven't had much time to make my mark, y'know?"

"Sent out..." Po slowed down and let some distance grow between him and the new guy. "Like an exile?"

"Oh, no! Like a mission. We left for the village Bura's been terrorising, to liberate them and take him down." Lion's smile turned strained. "Haven't made much headway with that yet. I've been to many places in my time, and I've met other Komodo dragons. A lot nicer than Bura, a lot less deranged." He glanced back at Tigress. "And bloodthirsty."

Po looked down too. Heroes like him and Tigress faced so much danger all the time, but they were too skilled to get injured often. It was easy to forget that in battle they might only be one misstep or failed dodge away from death.

"Master Lion?" Po said. Lion glanced over his shoulder. "Thanks. For protecting her."

He shook his head. "No need to thank me! I'd do anything to protect a friend. So would she. But you'd know that already, huh? I hear you guys make a great team!"

"Yeah..." Po rolled his shoulders to try and stop them from straining. Tigress wasn't heavy to him—she was half his own weight—but he wasn't at his best this evening, and his muscles were starting to protest. Even so, his hold tightened.

They came into the shadow of the Jade Palace's mountain. Po lowered his voice, hoping his words would be private between him and Tigress. "We're almost home now, okay? Then you can relax. You'll be fine. Promise."

xxxxx

The Thousand Steps were exactly as bad as Po expected them to be—usually he would drop his paws and crawl up after the halfway point, but he couldn't exactly put Tigress down. Lion had offered to take her back at the foot of the stairs, which Po couldn't take as anything except admitting defeat. It was silly, he knew. He almost had a heart attack and he couldn't feel his arms but hey, he made it.

Shifu was waiting at the top of the stairs, his eyes soft with worry. The great doors to the Hall of Heroes were wide open and the grandmaster ushered Po in. Lion lingered outside and roared out over the Valley. The sound was as loud as the warning gong, even louder than Tigress' own roar. Po didn't care to admit that it made his heart thud.

Shifu escorted Po to the end of the Hall, where he finally placed Tigress down on the steps before the Dragon Scroll pool. He fell onto his butt beside her, panting like crazy. In his eyes, a month's worth of training had been condensed into one day. As he recovered, he watched Shifu check over his star student.

"Where are the others?" Po asked once he had his breath more under control.

"They went out looking for the two of you. They only mentioned that a warlock attacked, what happened?"

Po tried hard not to meander as he recounted the day. Obviously he left out a lot of the story. The benign old teacher did not need to know what escapades Po and Tigress got up to. Po wouldn't bet on how long he'd keep his good health if Shifu found out.

"A 'draining curse'...?" Shifu muttered. He stared over at the wall of scrolls in front of them. Po could tell he was mentally searching for any mention of curses in their gigantic library.

Po turned at the sound of shuffling feet and scales. His friends and Lion came in and jogged over. Viper slithered under Tigress' head and rolled up, making a pillow out of herself, while Mantis started poking at Tigress' muscles, testing how tense they were.

"Where in the world did you two go, underground?" Crane asked Po. "I flew around everywhere and couldn't see you."

Po tightened his lips like he had swallowed a lemon. Wow, if Crane had flown out farther and caught them at the wrong moment, that would've been very tough to explain. "Uh..."

"Why's Tigress knocked out?" Mantis asked. "Didn't you do your healing thing?"

Po raised his paws up helplessly. "I tried to!" He looked at Lion. "You said you'd explain? What did Bura hit her with?"

All eyes turned to the big cat. He sighed. "I'm not an expert on magic, I only know the basics, but this curse is notorious back at the village Bura came from. It drains jing."

"Drains what?" Po asked, checking that he caught the name right. He'd never heard of it.

"Jing, it's one of the Treasures of the soul, like chi. But it's its own thing. Chi can't substitute it, I'm afraid. That's why your healing didn't work."

Treasures... Po remembered. Bura mentioned one, this 'jing' thing must've been what he was referring to.

"What's this stuff about?" Monkey asked Shifu.

The grandmaster shook his head. "Chi has always been known among scholars, even if the secret to using it was lost to time. But no one, not even Oogway, ever wrote anything on jing, I'm certain."

"No one in China," Lion told him. "From what I've been taught, jing is life energy."

"I thought that was chi already?" Po said.

"No. Chi is the soul's connection to the Universe, the force that brings everyone together. I've never summoned it myself, so you'll know more about what it feels like than me. It's collective power, right?" Po glanced at his friends and nodded. "But jing is more... personal than that. It's the soul's connection to the body, kind of like an anchor. You're born with a certain amount, and it naturally drains away with every second you live. Until you have none left, and you can't anymore."

Po couldn't say anything. Everyone else was also quiet for a minute. Then Crane said, "And Bura's curse is draining Tigress, of this thing her soul relies on to stay in her body."

"So she's dying?!" Monkey exclaimed. "Right now?!"

"Not right now," Lion said. "The curse is very slow to act—it takes weeks to drain a lifetime's worth of jing, but, yes. She's dying, he's killing her."

"And he doesn't even have the decency to do it face to face?" Viper hissed.

Po still couldn't say anything. His whole body was stiff and tense, except for his stomach, which felt like a boiling pot. Tigress wasn't okay. She was _dying_.

"How do you know this is the case?" Shifu asked Lion, his voice quiet and reserved. "Are you sure about everything you told us?"

"Absolutely sure. I've been taking magic lessons from a witch back at Bura's village. Her name is Sati, she's the only person alive who knows as much about jing as he does. I'm sure she'll know of a countercurse." Lion looked down at Tigress, and everyone else followed his example. "She needs to leave with me straight away. I'll make my teacher help her."

The best news. Po's stomach settled a little, only a little.

"Good," Mantis said. "We'll all come with you." The rest of the Five nodded.

"Actually, you should stay here."

"What?" Viper said. "Why? Our friend is in danger, we want to be there for her."

Lion smiled at her. "I get that, trust me. But I've been fighting Bura a long time and I know how he works. If you leave your Valley defenceless, he'll come for it. It's his favourite way of fighting, to attack the things his enemy cares about."

"But we care about Tigress too!" Monkey protested.

Po found his voice again. "The others can stay, I'm coming with you," he told Lion. "Bura said he came here for me. To recruit me as his apprentice. So he'll follow me out, right? Let's take the fight out of my home turf and into his."

Lion looked like he might argue but Po stared him down. It didn't matter what anyone said to him. Tigress was in danger, and Po was going to follow her like her shadow. It's what he'd always done, and he wouldn't stop now just because of some vicious warlock.

Lion eventually nodded. "Alright. I just hope you're a good traveller."

"Oh? How far away is this village?" Crane asked.

"Uh... not that far, relatively speaking. It's called Sapana Beach. On the Bay of Bengal. In India."

 _"India?"_ Po and the Five said in unison. Po had only ever left this region of China twice, for Gongmen City and for the Panda Village. They were still in the same country and they felt like the other side of the world. Now he was about to journey thousands of miles—his goose dad was gonna try to give him a travel pack the size of a house.

"Well... fine. Bring on India, heh." Po had just promised himself he would follow Tigress anywhere, and he meant it.

He felt a tap on his paw and looked down. Shifu looked up at him intensely, and made a beckoning gesture with his head. Po followed him behind some of the hall's massive pillars. As he went, he glanced back at the group, who watched him go with curiosity. Even through all his friends were right there, Po didn't feel good leaving Tigress' side. Once they were out of hearing range, Shifu turned back to him.

"It's unfortunate that we must call on a witch, but it seems she is the only person who can help Tigress."

"Yeah..." Po said. He watched as Shifu put his hands behind his back and started pacing.

"Po, throughout your journey, I need you to hold to what I say now."

Shifu looked extremely troubled about something—not just the obvious. "What is it?"

He looked Po in the eye. "Don't breathe a word about Tigress' curse to her. Don't let her learn of it under any circumstances."

"...What? Doesn't she have the right to know about something so... really important?"

Shifu sighed. "Yes. She does, but she can't." He stopped pacing. "Po, years ago, before you became the Dragon Warrior, Tigress fell victim to a similar curse. It did not threaten her life. Not directly, at least. It threatened her sanity. She barely overcame it with her mind intact. Since then, she's had the greatest displeasure for any magic beyond the techniques of kung fu. She would never knowingly allow this Sati to perform a countercurse on her."

"What, not even to save her life?"

"No, not even then. Because she knows better than anyone that dark magic always has a cost. She wouldn't want anyone to pay it for her. You must use your wisdom. We know nothing about Sati or her practices. She may try to trick you, or make you agree to give up something precious in exchange for her help. Be sure you know what's worth trading and what isn't."

Po frowned. "Anything's worth trading if it saves Tigress." Shifu scowled at him. "I'm giving you my word that I'll bring her back as good as new. That's the most important thing."

The tiny master sighed. "You've never failed before, no matter my beliefs. But remember what I told you. If I'm sure of one thing, it's that when you get to India, things won't be as black-and-white as you are."

Po nodded. "I get it." Shifu looked to the floor. "Hey. She'll be fine. She'll have me taking care of her!"

A small smile touched the edges of Shifu's mouth.

"Guys, she's waking up!" Crane called out.

Po jumped and dashed out from behind the pillars, Shifu on his tail. He saw Tigress prop herself up with a paw and bring the other to her forehead.

"Hey, Tigress," Lion said softly. "How do you feel?"

Po felt a strange prickling touch him. It was dumb, but he was a little annoyed that Lion beat him to the question. Dumb. What did it matter? Po and Shifu approached the pool as Tigress replied.

"Hn... I'm alright."

"Yeah, you look it," Mantis drawled. "If 'alright' means 'run over twelve times with a rickshaw'."

"Be quiet, she looks fine," Viper said. "Do you remember what happened, sister?"

Tigress rubbed at her temple for a moment before she murmured, "The marketplace. It was attacked by a warlock. Bura... he sent Po and I away." She shot her head up and looked around urgently. Po watched her perform a silent headcount of their friends. She noticed him last, and sighed in relief when she saw he was okay.

She could remember Bura. Did she remember everything else? Po swallowed slightly as Tigress stared at him. He had no idea what she was thinking about right now, and he was way too scared to ask in front of everyone.

"Yeah, you, Po and Lion have got a new bad guy to deal with," Monkey told her.

"Just me and them?"

"Yep," Mantis said. "The rest of us are taking a holiday. Hope kicking evil butt goes well for you."

Half the room rolled their eyes at the little insect. Tigress got to her feet and Shifu approached her.

"Go freshen up, then leave tonight for Lion's village in India. You will find Bura there."

Tigress straightened up and placed her fist in her open palm. "Yes, master."

Shifu returned the kung fu salute. "And keep Po out of trouble."

She smiled. "Of course." She looked up at Po and they shared a weird little moment. It was interrupted when Viper and Monkey shot forward and wrapped themselves around her. "What the...?" Mantis and Crane joined in.

"Good luck," Crane said. His voice was soft at the best of times, and now it was just above a whisper.

"What do I need luck for?" Tigress said as she wriggled out of the group hug. She gazed down at her friends for a moment, looking confused at their slightly forced smiles.

"Okay, so I'll wait for you two at the foot of the stairs," Lion said.

Tigress nodded at him and returned her gaze to Po. He cleared his throat.

"Bye, guys." The rest of the Five returned the sentiment, and Po followed Tigress as she stepped out in the direction of the barracks.

He walked behind her in silence for most of the way, gathering his nerve. They were fully conscious and alone together for the first time since... what they did. Did Tigress remember it? Was it a blur for her? It was a crystal clear memory for Po. He didn't know what to say about it.

So he went with something simple. Just before they arrived at the barracks, he called out, "Tigress?"

She stopped walking, and he did too. She turned around expectantly. Po didn't think she looked angry, but the sun had gone down by now and it was difficult to interpret her expression in this darkness.

"Yes?"

"Um... I'm... sorry."

"For what?"

Po blinked. Was she playing with him? Probably not, that wasn't like her, but he couldn't help being nervous. "About you getting hurt. And what happened after Bura zapped us away."

Tigress looked down at Po's feet and folded her arms. Not in an attitude kind of way, more like a cold kind of way. "You don't have to apologise for that. I do. I practically attacked you. Forgive me."

"Oh... well, nothing to forgive, 'cause I didn't take it that way. I mean, I thought it was nice." He winced. That probably wasn't the right thing to say.

Tigress didn't say anything, or continue to walk. Since she kept looking down, Po did too. He focused on a spot above her belt, and frowned at himself. Something was bothering him. That glow he saw. He should've asked Lion about it but he probably would've had to admit to what he'd done with Tigress. He was going to have to rely on her. "What's the last thing you remember, before passing out?"

Tigress looked up and caught his gaze. "What do you mean?"

"Do you... remember seeing red?"

She frowned. "No... I remember being angry with Bura before. But that's not what you mean, is it?" Po shook his head. "What?"

Shifu's advice came back to him. If it was to do with the curse, Po probably couldn't talk about it without alerting Tigress, and making her swear away from anyone's help. Which would suck more than anything. "Nevermind. Silly question, sorry."

Tigress let her arms fall and turned back to the barracks. "Stop saying sorry to me. You don't have to. Come on, we need to get going."

She started moving again, and Po followed her, like always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wake Ti up (wake Ti up inside) she can't wake up (wake Ti up inside) SAVE HER
> 
> Can you tell I spend too much time on the Internet


	6. "Are you mad?"

Who knew Po would ever feel so grateful for new, non-sticky shorts?

He dropped his old ones down in double time, trying on the way to be discreet about how desperate he was to get them off. His trademark clumsiness didn't fail him now—he tangled his foot in them and toppled over onto his bedroom floor, which made the whole barracks shake. Another time, Tigress probably would've tutted at him from over in her own room, and told him to be careful. Tonight she ignored his antics. Po heard only a slight rustling as she took off her own clothes. What a show that would be, too bad for these walls...

He shook his head at himself. Their little tryst only gave him a temporary relief from his thoughts—now he was even more wound up over her. That wasn't how it was supposed to work, was it? If it was, this crush, or, well, whatever it was he felt for Tigress, was going to wreck him very soon.

He got up and noticed a little wad of parchment crushed against his chest. Oh, his failure of a love note from earlier. He sighed at it and threw it into another corner. Things hadn't gone to plan on that whole confessing his feelings front. And he thought it was complicated _before_.

He heard Tigress open and close her door, then walk out of their quarters. Wow, she changed quickly. And she didn't wait for him...

Po's ears lowered and he wriggled into his fresh clothing. This might be a long journey.

And not just because they were going to freaking _India_.

Because of them. Their whole embarrassments and feelings and facing danger and finding themselves alone together and awkwardness and some kind of mutual attraction on some level maybe and _being so confused_. Yeah.

Po sighed again.

xxxxx

Lion was waiting at the bottom of the stairs like he said he'd be, though he was alone. He smiled as Po took a great leap from the mountain above and landed beside him. "Hey there, Dragon Warrior."

"You can call me Po if you want." Po didn't really feel like getting all familiar with the guy—strange as he normally loved making new friends—but Lion _was_ gonna help save his best friend's life. The least Po could do was try to act chummy. "Where's Tigress?"

The new guy gestured out into the dark, silent village. "She said she needed to say goodbye to someone."

Ah, of course. Po knew exactly where she went. He gestured for Lion to follow him and started jogging. They only made a few paces before they skidded to a stop outside the restaurant. A lit paper lantern was standing on one table and Po's dads were huddled around it.

Mr. Ping looked up at the sound of the new arrivals. "Oh there you are, you've been gone for a dynasty!" The old goose and panda rushed over to the restaurant's circular entrance.

"Are you and your friends okay?" Li asked with a low brow. "We heard about the fight."

"Yeah, everyone's cool..." Po told them. "Well, mostly. Tigress is in trouble."

The two dads looked at each other before Mr. Ping stepped closer to his son. "How so? What's happening?"

"I haven't got much time to explain," Po said. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Lion standing a few feet behind him. "Me and my new..." He was about to say buddy but it didn't feel right. "Ally, we gotta go take her to a faraway village and find a cure for this... special illness thing she got given by that gatecrashing lizard." It wasn't that he couldn't trust his parents with what was going on, of course he could, it was just sometimes they became concerned with all the supernatural things that seemed to happen around Po at an alarming rate. It would help them sleep better while he was gone, if they only knew the essentials.

"Oh dear..." Li muttered. "Well, good luck and be careful, Son."

Mr. Ping tried to go to his kitchen. "Hang on a moment, I'll get you something for your journey."

Po gently grabbed one of the goose's wings to stop him. "No, don't worry Dad, I really can't stick around. The sooner we go, the better it is for Tigress."

"Ah... I understand." Mr. Ping turned back and looked up at his son with fondness. "What's that thing you always like to say before you go off on your adventures? It might have been 'serving your foes a dish called justice'?"

Po smiled. "Something like that." He opened his arms and his dads took one side of him each into a firm hug.

Then he was off, his dads waving behind him and Lion at his side. Po could sense the feline's eyes on him as they jogged away.

"Eh... they can be a bit overprotective sometimes," Po said sheepishly.

"No no," Lion said, "it's nice that you have such a caring family. Love like that, it's the most important thing in the world, y'know?"

Po checked Lion's expression and couldn't see any insincerity. All he could really see was a vague sadness.

Maybe this guy wasn't that bad. Po decided he would try harder to be friendly.

"Not to mention it's awesome how progressive the Valley of Peace is! Nobody talks about that for some reason."

"Uh... what do you mean?"

"Well, I've seen openly gay couples in my time but never a couple of different species! Must be tough making things work, hahaha! But good for them, there should be more people who aren't afraid to stray from the norm."

"Whuh—what are you talking about?" All Po could think was that Lion might be a few noodles shy of a bowl. "They're not together like that! They're just... both my dads."

"Oh. Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have assumed. Egg on my face, haha." Lion rubbed at the back of his mane. "So, _are_ there couples like that around here? Of different species?"

Po shook his head slowly. There weren't... but maybe that would change soon? He wondered if there had ever been any bear and cat couples anywhere out in the wide world. Maybe Po and Tigress could be the very first.

That is, if he ever found the time and courage to actually ask Tigress to be with him, _and_ she said yes. And if they were even on speaking terms right now. He still felt a little raw that the tiger had ditched him.

They came to the outskirts of the Valley, where a horde of tents was spread across the plains. When all of Po's new panda family came to the Valley with him, the village proper didn't have much room for the massive guys (massive individually as well as collectively). So this spot was their home away from home.

Almost every tent was dark, their residents slumbering peacefully. One tent glowed with candlelight and Po led the way to it.

Tigress was kneeling on the grass next to the open tent flap, gently rocking her armful of little panda. Lei Lei looked up at her with soft half-lidded eyes.

Po barely suppressed an 'aww' at the sight. Maybe Tigress didn't ditch him, maybe she just wanted a few minutes alone with her number one fan. A position Lei Lei joint-held with Po of course.

"Do you have to go?" Lei Lei mumbled.

Tigress' voice was like honey as she said, "I'll be back soon, I promise."

The warm feeling Po got from watching them was interrupted by a sudden cold. Tigress sounded so sure, but what if she wasn't back soon? What if... Tigress didn't come back? She was in mortal danger. And Po had no clue what it would take to save her. She didn't even know she was in no position to make a promise like that.

Po shook his head at himself frantically, earning a curious look from Lion. Of course Tigress was coming back. She was going to be absolutely fine. Since when did Po let himself get anxious over something like this? What was he, a warrior or a wuss?

"Take me with you," Lei Lei said with her best do-my-bidding-I'm-an-adorable-baby voice.

"I'm sorry, we can't. But I'll be thinking of you the whole time I'm gone, don't you worry." Tigress got to her feet with Lei Lei still in her arms, and the little panda girl clung to her shoulder like a monkey. "Come now, sweetheart, we need to get you to bed."

Lei Lei whined but lessened her grip a little. She glanced away from Tigress and caught Po's eye. Po opened his arms, offering his own hug goodbye, but Lei Lei didn't reach out to him. Instead she held up her Tigress action figure for him to see.

Po raised his brow. "Are you giving her to me?"

A silly question, really. Lei Lei wouldn't willingly part with this thing before the sun rose in the west. "No!" she snapped as she pulled Mini Tigress back into her chest. Po dropped his paws, and when Lei Lei saw that he wasn't about to try and take her prized possession away, she held Mini Tigress out again. "Kiss goodbye."

"Oh..." Po felt the fur over his cheeks tingle. Avoiding eye contact with the real Tigress, he leaned in and gave the mini one a peck on her tiny wooden forehead.

That seemed to be all Lei Lei needed from him. She turned around and smushed her face into her carrier's chest. Tigress brought a paw up to stabilise the girl's head, then ducked into the tent.

Lion grinned at Po. "Sister?"

"Technically she's a second cousin once removed from my mum's side, but... yeah. Cute, huh?"

"Totally. Reminds me of my sis way back home. She's an adult now but I'll always worry about her, y'know?"

Po nodded. They waited as humming sounds drifted out of the tent until Lei Lei began to snore softly. The candle was snuffed out and Tigress emerged, looking extremely reluctant to leave.

"Ready?" Po asked gently.

"Ready to come back home already," Tigress said. She quickly tied the tent flaps together, straightened up and turned to Lion.

"Alright, here we go." He dropped on all fours and was off into the wilderness with Tigress on his heels. Watching them vanish into the night, Po realised. Cats were very very fast. And they were pressed for time. He was gonna have to keep up with them.

Long distance running... so not his thing. He exhaled and took off after them. There was no time for idleness. This was for Tigress.

xxxxx

They spent the whole night going hard, and by the end, Po was willing to bet he was much closer to death than Tigress, curses whatever.

He breathed a massive, laboured sigh of relief when they scaled a giant hill and he saw the sun rise in front of him. Its light gleamed across a vast plane of water—they'd arrived at the sea. Once his cat company graced him with a rest stop, Po had a chance to think that it made sense they were going to India by ship. It would take upwards of a month to leave the country by foot, and according to Lion, Tigress didn't have that long.

But the way she was running, no one would suspect there was anything wrong with her. She was in her prime, nothing slowing her down except pity for her legwork-challenged friend.

As the sun broke free of the horizon, Lion led them onto a sailing ship flying orange, white and green colours. He threw a coin purse to an albatross crew member who nodded and left them to chill out on the main deck. The three of them watched the crew bustle around, working on ropes and pulleys, and they watched as the ship cast off. The coast floated away. Nothing but ocean and clear skies were ahead.

It was a lovely sight. These were Po's favourite shades of blue. He hoped to feel at peace. But...

He hadn't forgotten his nightmare. They were surrounded by deep water now.

"Well, Ti?" Lion said, grinning. "What do you think of my ride?"

Po watched Tigress place a paw on the ship's mast, and follow the natural grooves in the wood with her fingers. "If it was 'your' ride, you'd be in front of the helm. And I remember telling you the last time we saw each other, don't call me 'Ti' anymore."

"You sure did, Ti." Lion kept grinning. Tigress rolled her eyes and walked off, toward the back of the ship.

The two boys watched her go until Po turned to Lion. "So..." He racked his brain for a conversation starter. "You said Sapana was on the Bay of Bengal?"

"Uh huh. A very pretty place, you guys will love it when you see it."

Po hummed. He, like most people, did appreciate pretty things. Like bright orange fur, and stripes. "Are there Sapanese... Sapanish, Sapanian... are there tigers in Sapana? I read somewhere that there were lots around that part of the land."

Po had only ever known of one tiger in his life. He wondered if Tigress had met another of her own kind in living memory, and if she hadn't, how she'd react to seeing them for the first time.

Lion seemed to cringe a little. "There used to be. But they died out a long time ago."

"Oh... how come?"

Lion looked away, down at the wooden deck. "They chose not to have children. Actually, that didn't go for them alone. Many of the villagers stopped having children."

Well, that was peculiar. Lion didn't seem to want to talk about it though. Po fidgeted with the claws on his fingers. "Uh... so if Sapana's in the north-east part of India, and we have to sail south of the mainland to get there, it's about... one thousand five hundred miles away, right?"

Lion looked back at Po in surprise. "How did you know that?"

Po shrugged. "I saw a map of India a while ago."

"How long was a while ago?"

"Like a year?"

Lion's mouth fell open. "Wow, that's a pretty impressive memory you got. I didn't hear that about the Dragon Warrior."

"Heh..." Po wasn't sure why he felt embarrassed. Maybe because his good memory usually manifested in the form of info-dumping about the best kung fu legends. It was his turn to look away, and he glanced over the side of the ship to see how the wood cut against the water and left a far-reaching trail of foam. "Hey, how fast are we going?"

Lion considered the giant sails billowing above them. "Pretty fast, nine-ish knots. If the wind stays on our side like this, I'd say we'll arrive at our destination in about—"

"A hundred and sixty seven hours." Po said. Lion stared. "I mean, uh, seven days. I mean, a week. About."

Lion stared some more. "So, not just a good memory but a good head for numbers." His smile was especially wide this time. "I'm glad I've got you as an ally, you're very smart."

Po frowned. "Nah. Not me."

"Hey, don't put yourself down. You _are_ smart, I'm sure, because Tigress respects cleverness, and I know she really respects you."

Po picked so sharply at one of his claws that he accidentally chipped it. He looked at Lion in confusion. He couldn't see why the guy was telling him this.

The feline squinted at Po as if he had just figured something out. "Yeah... a week at sea. We have some time to kill. Let's go bug her." He stepped past the panda and over to where Tigress was. Po went after the two of them, his confusion following.

He climbed the staircase up to the stern, passing the captain at the wheel, a middle-aged boar of some kind. At the very back of the ship, Tigress was looking out over the great stretches of ocean they were leaving behind.

It was only a day ago that she was unconscious in Po's arms. She seemed so small and fragile then. Now she was standing tall, her arms folded to make her favourite I-mean-business look. A light breeze swept around her, making the trail of her hanfu flutter. She looked so majestic... as she should, in Po's view. The curse was just a temporary smudge—this was the real her.

Lion came to one side of her, and Po decided to go for her other side. "So," Po said, looking over at the cats. "How did you two meet, you didn't tell me yet."

Tigress' whiskers twitched before she answered. "We crossed paths in a tavern in Siberia. The Five were called to a mission there, and when Lion heard, he offered his help."

A tavern? Po found that strange. Neither he nor any of his friends drank—kung fu masters abstained from alcohol. It didn't seem like a place they'd visit.

The country didn't either. "Siberia? Really? When?"

"It would be a decade ago now." Ten years? Wow. That was five before Po earned his title, and five after he first saw Tigress fight and promptly fell in love with kung fu. It was really weird to think how long she'd been a part of his life, even before she knew him.

"Jeez, you're right," Lion said. "Ten years ago, and we haven't seen each other since. I always meant to come visit, and see how time treated you. Though apart from that gold you're rocking—good choice if I do say so myself—you haven't changed much." Tigress shrugged.

Po continued, "This mission, no one ever mentioned it."

"It never came up," she said shortly.

"But it sounds like an awesome story, I mean, Siberia? The super cold, super mountain-y place? Must've been intense! I asked you guys about your old adventures loads of times but you never—"

"Because we don't like to talk about this one, it didn't go well."

"Oh..." Po twiddled his thumbs together. "Sorry."

Tigress looked at him in exasperation and Po remembered that his sorries were starting to annoy her. He stopped himself before he accidentally apologised for apologising and got caught in a vicious circle.

"It wasn't any fault of Lion's, though." Tigress looked back at the other feline, softening her expression. "Even before he was sworn in, he was an accomplished warrior. We couldn't have finished the mission without him."

"Aw shucks," Lion said with more of his grinning. "I'm touched you think so."

Tigress ignored his playfulness and turned back to Po. "You two have a lot in common. I'm sure you'll get along well."

Was it Po's imagination, or was there some kind of hidden request in her words? She held his gaze for a long moment before she turned away. "I'm going to check out what's below deck." She left for downstairs, and Po watched her go with a frown. That made about three times she walked away from him now. She never acted like this—things were really not great between them.

"Haha... she reminds me of Sati a little."

Po gave Lion his attention. "What's this witch like?"

"Oh, a real sourpuss. Keeps to herself a lot, very grumpy. But I guess she's allowed to be. Me and my friends have fought Bura for a year straight without success. Sati, she's been fighting pretty much since she was a kid." Lion frowned and shook his head. "He's tyrannised the village for so long, longer than you'd believe, and all Sati wants to do is free everyone from him. She tried to drive him away so many times over the years and he stayed, but he suddenly left of his own accord four months ago."

"To find me," Po said grimly. It was weird. The news that Po defeated Kai and became the True Master of Chi travelled very quickly, considering all the masters involved in Kai's rampage. The Valley of Peace wasn't very hard to find if you asked the right people, loads of visitors stopped by all through the summer to congratulate Po on the victory. And Bura could fly. It shouldn't have taken him four months to arrive on Po's doorstep. Why did he take so long to attack?

"Yeah, Sati foresaw what Bura was up to. I don't know if she foresaw that he's coming back. Ah, no one's gonna be happy about that." Lion rolled his shoulders. "But it doesn't matter. You have a good track record for taking down the power-mad, don't you Po? I have a feeling that you and Ti are what Sapana's been waiting for."

"Heh, yeah. Your handy tyrant takedown team, just a ship ride away!"

Lion gave him a thumbs up. Po looked down to where Tigress went—she had disappeared through a trap door. His ears flattened. Bura would never have come to the Valley and cursed Tigress if it wasn't for him.

"I know you're scared for her," Lion murmured. "I am too, but all magic has limits. It'll take time for Bura to steal her jing. We'll save her."

Po smiled at the lion, but his smile faded quickly. "'Steal'? I thought you said it's a draining curse?"

"It is," Lion said. "But... the jing doesn't just bleed out and get wasted. Bura takes it for himself." Po stared at him with an open mouth. "Yeah. Every second that he knocks off of her lifespan is added to his own."

Po made a few gargling noises before he could speak. "That's... _so sick_."

Lion just nodded. "Yeah. But we're not going to let him carry on, are we? Like I said, we'll save her."

He clapped Po on the shoulder, and it was the first time Po felt some camaraderie with the guy. It was a comfort, but only a slight one. Po was now more worried than ever.

"I'm... gonna go check out below deck as well," he said. Lion smiled knowingly as he lumbered down the stairs and out of sight.

xxxxx

The trapdoor definitely wasn't measured out for bears, but with effort Po squeezed through. It was a little claustrophobic inside the ship. A few crew members were hanging around, some birds and pigs, and they seemed totally fine. But then they weren't passing six feet like he was—they barely even passed three. Tigress was almost as tall as Po, maybe she was feeling claustrophobic too.

He pattered around until he found her, sitting on a cot in a cabin at the end of the hallway, where it was quiet. "...Hey."

She glanced at him briefly, smiled, then returned to looking out the window. It was a tiny slit, and didn't let much light in. This spot Tigress had found for herself felt like a world away from the busy main deck just above their heads.

Po came to her side, wondering the whole way along if he was making a mistake. Maybe he should leave her alone for a while. The thing was that he really didn't want to.

Tigress didn't protest when he sat down next to her and made the cot bounce her up. He didn't talk immediately, he followed her lead and they stared out into the sea for a while.

He let the silence stretch for as long as he could bear. "Are you mad at me?"

She turned to him in surprise. "No, Po, I'm not."

"You've been pretty quiet."

"We were travelling all night."

"So you're just tired?"

Tigress paused before nodding. He seemed to have given her an easy excuse not to elaborate. He rubbed at his knees, to have something to do. Tigress shocked him by placing a paw on one of his own. This was the first time she'd touched him since...

"I shouldn't have given you that impression," she said softly. She turned her back to the window so that she could face him more.

Their gazes locked. Po had no idea what Tigress was seeing on his face—if his expression was in line with his feelings he must look horribly worried. But she only looked calm.

Po didn't like it. Something wasn't right about it. His eyes drifted out the window again. It was a bright day, and there was barely a wave on the ocean. It shouldn't have been so easy to imagine darkness and a seastorm, and Tigress dropping under the surface.

He grimaced. Between his nightmare and Bura's curse, Po was amazed that he let Tigress out of his sight even for a moment.

"Um, Tigress..." He wasn't sure what he wanted to say first. So many things were on his mind.

"Let's not talk right now."

Po refocused on her. She still looked calm. Self-assured. "Oh... okay. What do you want to do instead?"

She didn't tell him. She pulled Po's paw off his knee and brought it to the side of her waist. Then she gripped his shoulder, and reeled him in.

She left an inch between their faces and looked up at him expectantly. It was kind of her, to give him a moment to think, because his head just went fuzzy for a few seconds. They were so close. Yesterday, everything they did, it was crazy, awesome, crazy-awesome, but they weren't at their full wits. It was still something they could sweep under the carpet—which wasn't what Po wanted but the option was there if Tigress did.

Maybe she didn't. They were both awake and aware in this moment. It felt like a point of no return. Wasn't this what he'd been planning for? With the tiny little script he prepared, to confess his feelings? But she asked him not to talk. The only thing he could do instead was kiss her.

So he did. He closed his eyes and leaned in until he found her. It wasn't a dream, and they weren't under the influence of anything, except each other. It was real, he really did it.

And she responded. As soon as he brushed his lips over hers, she pressed against him, warm and heavy. She tilted her head, making their muzzles fit right together. Her whole mouth was on his, perfectly aligned, and he was caught in a rush of excitement and pleasure. Po thought a kiss couldn't get much better, and quickly learned that he was wrong.

Tigress gently pried his lips apart with her own. She didn't waste time. He felt her cool breath on his tongue, and the next second, her own was in his mouth. All these sensations he was being bombarded with, they were still so foreign, but nothing more so than when Tigress licked at the roof of his mouth. He actually yelped when he felt her tongue barbs graze him—the feeling shot through his entire brain, turning it to jelly. He brought his other paw to her waist and clutched at her, using her to steady himself because he was suddenly dizzy.

She didn't leave Po's mouth, which was tough on him. Each time her tongue moved, ran across his own or over his teeth, his mind had to figure out how to handle it, and that was a lot to ask. This was a totally new lesson in sensation.

Po had always been a fast learner though. He focused himself enough to lick at the underside of her tongue, which made her audibly shudder. Growing in confidence, he gave her more of the same, and she gasped and panted with every one of his movements. Her voice was so soft, but she was so close, and every little sound she made filled his ears, to his delight.

He had waited so long to do this. He should have kissed Tigress years ago. But hey, the past was the past. All he could do now was make up for lost time.

Never letting up on her mouth, Po let his paws roam over her sides. He found the sash she wore around her waist, and slipped his thumbs under it. Just as he was about to tug it loose, Tigress groaned against his lips, and the sound brought his concentration back to him.

He pulled away and took in the lovely sight of her flushed face. He wasn't sure how far they were going to go—right now he could go to the moon and back, but he couldn't assume the same for her. She didn't want to talk, but he had to ask.

"Wow."

That wasn't Po, or Tigress. They jumped in shock and turned to the door Po foolishly forgot to close. Lion stood there, trying to keep an amused smirk off his face.

"Some things don't change," he said, "but some things _really_ do. Are bears your type now, Ti?"

The tiger tugged herself out of Po's arms and stood up. As she adjusted her clothing, she said in a low, potentially dangerous voice, "Don't you dare gossip about this to your friends. Or to anyone."

Lion's face straightened out. "You know I won't."

Tigress glanced at Po very quickly, then strode out of the cabin without looking back.

There was a terrifically awkward silence. Eventually Po cleared his throat and got to his feet as well.

Lion smiled apologetically at him. "Heh. Uh, nice one, buddy."

"...Thanks?" Po wasn't sure what Lion meant, with this compliment as well as with what he said before, but at least this time around it wasn't him who made everything super embarrassing.

"Wanna go back up to the deck?" Lion offered. Po suddenly became aware that the air in the cabin was very hot. Leaving sounded like a good idea. He squeezed out into the hallway and up through the trapdoor, Lion on his six.

"Can't see Tigress," Lion muttered. "She must have found herself a new hidey-hole in the lower floors."

Po looked up. "No, the opposite." Their friend was in the crow's nest, alone and avoiding looking down at them. She was too far away for Po to tell if her cheeks were still red. Even if they were, she'd calm down soon, up there with the seabreeze on her face.

Tigress was maybe overreacting a little to the situation, taking such a drastic measure to avoid them. Perhaps this embarrassment was the straw on the camel's back. It should've been a little funny but Po wasn't going to laugh at her.

Watching her, he felt unease settle in. It was weird because it had nothing to do with what just happened. It was a heights thing. How long was Tigress going to be up there? The weather was fine now, but what if it turned, and a dark storm hit them, rocking the ship and making her fall out? What if she fell overboard and sank down into the depths—

This was stupid! She had amazing balance, she wasn't going to fall. And there wasn't one cloud in the sky. Po needed to get his stupid nightmare out of his head.

He turned to Lion. "Do you get a lot of storms in these seas? Or in Sapana?"

Lion looked slightly confused for a moment. "Uh, I'd say next to none right now. But monsoon season starts in three weeks. That's about..." Lion's face fell and he dropped his voice to just above a whisper. "About the same amount of time until the draining curse finishes its job, in my best guess." This deadline didn't really help with Po's unease, but at least it was confirmation that his vision couldn't be true, at least not for three weeks—or _never_ , it wasn't a vision, no, he already knew this. "Why do you ask?"

Po turned so that Lion couldn't see his face. "Just curious."

"You know, we'll make port long before the season turns. No need to worry, you're not gonna sink, haha."

Po laughed with him, but he didn't feel it. It wasn't himself he was worried about—after all, it wasn't _himself_ that had been about to drown in his... not-a-vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pulled them ship distance/speed/time calculations outta my belly button, please don't look at them too hard lmao


	7. "It's just weird."

It wasn't a one-off. Po went through the same thing—Grey Place, the fall and the water—every night of the week. Sleeping on the ship made it worse. The smell of salt, the sound of the waves, they were way too close. Sometimes on waking up, it took a second to be sure the nightmare was over.

That was the worst thing about the journey by far, but he also didn't like how he hadn't talked to Tigress much. The little they did say to each other was just shallow hey-how-you-doing stuff. They hadn't even been alone together since the first day. The ship was too busy, and the crew were nice enough, but Po had run out of funny bean bun eating stories to tell them. When the lookout finally cried land, Po hissed "Yes!" and elbowed the air.

He came to the ship's bow and watched Sapana grow between the horizon and the evening sun. He'd never seen a place like this. Great sloping mountains peaked in the distance, with a thick jungle canopy that came down almost to the water's edge. Fine pale sand covered the beach for a mile on either side of him until it was broken off by steep cliffs as tall as the Jade Palace. The village poked out from the treeline. It was enclosed on all sides by nature, and drowning in so much greenery he didn't notice its tiny little huts until the ship came closer.

"I told you it was beautiful."

Po jumped as Lion came to his side, Tigress following. He glanced at her and did a double take. The late sun threw her orange fur into relief, and she was too badass to squint against the light, so her eyes were wide open and gleaming. She had her arms behind her back and she stood tall and regal.

Why did she always look so amazing? She didn't even have to try.

"Isn't it?" Lion asked.

"Oh—uh—" Po looked away quickly. "Yeah, super beautiful. Sapana is."

He could feel their eyes on him. He scampered away to the side of the ship. The captain brought it around to a single long pier standing alone on the sea, and the crew soon threw a plank out to it.

Po scrambled off. He hadn't gotten seasick once, but he was now officially sick of the sea. Stable ground would feel so great under his feet.

If he made it to land. The plank wobbled, which spooked him pretty good, so he leapt off dramatically. He made it onto the pier but overestimated how much room there was on it. It was so narrow that he could reach either side with his paws, how did anyone use this thing? He definitely would've stumbled over into the sea, and it was deep at this end.

Tigress grabbed his paw and pulled him steady before he got wet. "First impressions are important, Po, remember?"

She didn't drop his paw for a few seconds, probably checking that he had his balance before she let go. It was nice of her. When she did release him, Po could still feel the coolness of her skin on his own.

He wanted to say she didn't have to let go. Instead he followed where Tigress was looking—there were a few natives on the beach. He couldn't see any pigs or rabbits but Sapana did have geese and ducks, and a few deer. They watched the newcomers with curiosity. "Right, yeah," Po said sheepishly.

Lion inched around the two of them and lit the way. Po looked over his shoulder to see the ramp being lifted and the ship floating away. At least that whole thing was over. He hoped he'd get a good night's sleep tonight.

The sand was warm under his feet after the sun beat down on it all day. Now they were leaving the sea breeze, Po could feel how hot India was, even in the evening. Tigress was probably feeling it too, with her long sleeves. He guessed she was also glad for the shade Lion led them under.

The village didn't start at a clear point, and it wasn't like the Valley of Peace with all its neat, tiled roads. Sapana only had paths worn down by feet, and round-walled huts with conical straw roofs stood anywhere they would fit between the trees. They thinned out as Po and his company came to an open grassy courtyard, with a big circular meeting hall standing on the other side of it. He could see more and more villagers around, including tiny squirrels and mice, a few of them children. He was going to have to be careful where he stepped—he felt even more like the giant he was, but at least he wasn't alone in that regard.

There were some weird things about this place. For starters it was almost silent. Dozens of people were around, and none of them were humming or singing as they went about their evening, there was no music playing, people didn't even speak a word to each other. The only sounds were footsteps and carts rolling along.

By themselves. And water jugs and baskets floated in the air, following people with a blue glow to them.

"Whoa..." he said. Sure, he'd seen magic before. But there was so much of it in front of him now, he couldn't help but feel impressed. His voice was normal but he felt way too loud in the quiet.

"Yeah," Lion murmured. "Magic is a normal part of life here."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. No one's anywhere near the skill of Bura or Sati, but almost everyone uses simple magic all the time, except for expecting mothers, they're the only ones who can't."

"You call this kind of thing simple?" Po grinned as a fruit basket floated past his head. "I'd call it freaking awesome."

He glanced at Tigress, who was scowling at all the gravity-defying objects. He stopped smiling as he remembered what Shifu told him. Po wondered if she'd be angry that he knew her history with magic.

He looked away at a deer with two fawns by her side. They were wearing a uniform blue—that actually went for everyone he could see. Every piece of clothing, the sashes, wrappings and unfamiliar flowing gowns, was blue. It was like they hadn't left the sea. Po and Tigress stood out like sugar cubes in a bowl of salad.

Everyone looked at them as they passed, and Po could understand the novelty of a panda and a tiger waltzing into their home. But as they kept moving, the looks changed. The villagers stopped walking, or working, or whatever they were doing, and stared right at the newcomers, some of their mouths falling open. Everything that was airborne dropped to the ground.

"Uh..." Po muttered to Lion. "What's wrong with everyone?"

Lion looked startled for a moment. "Oh. Yeah, they don't raise their voices or smile outside. Sorry, since I'm used to it I forgot it's strange."

"But why are they staring at us?"

"Not at 'us', Po," Tigress corrected. "At me."

She was right, all eyes were on her. Some of the villagers even tilted their heads to get a glimpse around Po. Without thinking, he stepped closer to her, to shield her from some of the stares.

"Is it 'cause she's a tiger?" Po asked Lion.

Lion looked back and forth between Tigress and the crowd. "No... not specifically, I don't think."

"What do you—" Po started.

A tiny squirrel darted forward to stand in front of Lion. She gestured for him to kneel down and when he did, whispered something in his ear while pointing at Tigress's face. He listened and paused to think for a moment before shaking his head.

This seemed to answer a collective question—the squirrel slipped back into the crowd and everyone covered their mouths with their paws, wings or hooves to mutter among themselves. They didn't stop staring at Tigress.

"Lion, what's the matter?" she asked. Po thought she sounded very calm considering how uncomfortable this situation must be.

Lion turned to face them. "You have red eyes. The colour is banned here."

"What?" Po looked around carefully, and couldn't see red anywhere. It of course wasn't on anyone's clothing, or on their fur or feathers, or huts, or the fruits and vegetables in their baskets. There was orange, brown, pink, anything else but red. Now that its absence was brought to his attention, Po thought it was the weirdest thing. "Why?"

"It's the colour of jing."

"What's that?" Tigress asked.

Lion side-eyed Po before he answered. "A Treasure of the soul—life energy—and what Bura uses to source his magic. You got a good look at his staff, no?" Tigress frowned, as did Po. Yes she did.

Po was suddenly worried. "...They don't think she's his accomplice or anything, do they?" He checked the crowd's faces carefully. There was no hostility on them, though he did see worry. And a lot of it.

"No, no, nothing like that."

It was subtle but Po noticed Tigress take a wider stance, like she would if she was preparing for a fight. "Do they want me to leave?"

"No," Lion said. "They just think you're an omen."

"A good or bad one?"

Lion shook his head. "It doesn't matter, don't think about it." He gestured for them to keep following him across the courtyard. The faces of the villagers softened into pity and sympathy as they watched Tigress go. Po couldn't look at them anymore so he looked at her instead. He had a completely random thought.

"If red is banned here, then what colour are brides supposed to wear at weddings?"

Lion smiled without any joy. "Funny you should ask. There hasn't been a wedding in years because of Bura. He despises them. He crashed the last one Sapana saw, and the would-be bride and groom didn't leave it alive. Now all the couples here are too terrified to even consider the idea."

Po stilled at Lion's words. Well, he already knew Bura was capable of killing by the way he attacked Tigress. But combat, and even curses, were one thing. Attacking a couple of civilians on their wedding day was something else.

Po saw Tigress' jaw flex. "How long have these people been living under Bura's whims?" she asked.

Lion sighed. "Longer than you want to know."

A goose, in a Chinese servant's clothes instead of the style around them, though it was still blue, appeared in front of the crowd. "Welcome back, Master Lion. The others saw your ship come in from the Temple, they're waiting for the report of your time away."

"Thanks, please tell them I'm coming up soon. First I want to honour my guests and take them to their lodging."

The goose bowed and took off flying, above the treetops and to the mountains.

Lion smoothed his vest down and gestured for the others to follow him. He brought them to the steps of the meeting hall, where they stood and faced the crowd.

Lion addressed them, foregoing Chinese for the local language. He didn't talk for long, and the villagers listened without making a sound for most of his speech, until Po caught Lion using Bura's name in between all the unknown words. At that, some of the villagers gasped, then quickly covered their mouths, looking ashamed. They all seemed to huddle together, and a rush of whispers swept over the courtyard, but Lion continued and they listened. He gestured briefly to Po and Tigress, and his speech ended with him bowing to his two friends. The crowd followed suit, dipping their heads down for a moment. After that, the place began to clear out, the villagers disappearing down various little paths with their baskets and carts behind them.

"What was that about?" Tigress asked.

Lion smiled softly over the dispersing crowd. "These last four months while Bura was gone, they've all been hoping, praying even, that he'd stay gone. I figured it was fair to warn them he's coming back. But I also told them you're the two greatest warriors of China and you've come to help defeat him once and for all."

"Heh, yeah, that's us!" Po said, trying to be as enthusiastic as possible, though his enthusiasm didn't come out perfectly through his yawn.

Lion looked into their tired faces. "Come on, it'll be sundown soon and you need rest."

He took them south. Po listened as everyone's footsteps faded away until there was a perfect silence.

xxxxx

Po was surprised when Lion led them right out of Sapana proper. They walked for a while and left the jungle for a new little stretch of sand. A rock wall stopped their view of the village. They hadn't gone far but it made this spot seem like a completely difference place. No one else was around, and the only thing on the beach was an octagonal cabin just before the treeline, with a little hot spring right beside it.

"Here you are, lady, gentlebear," Lion grinned, leading them to it. "Your home away from home for now."

Po and Tigress shared a look. The cabin was far more extravagant than the little huts they just passed—it had a raised foundation and was built from rich dark wood. Its architect painted lovely swirling patterns along every inch of it, and it even had a wooden roof instead of straw. The thing that most impressed Po was its size. The door looked around eight feet tall, there would be plenty of room for both him and Tigress inside, and they wouldn't even have to duck to get through the doorway like they would almost anywhere else.

Tigress turned to Lion. "This is too much."

"No more than you deserve, old friend." Lion winked at her.

She didn't pay attention to it. "Especially compared to what the locals have."

"This _is_ what the locals have. Or at least one—it's Sati's home."

Tigress frowned. Po could see the distrust rising up on her face, that a witch was living better than her peers.

"We're staying with her?" Po asked. That would be awkward, considering how Tigress disliked her already. It would be awkward for a few more reasons too of course. Po wondered when exactly he'd get the chance to be alone with Tigress, they had a lot of stuff to figure out between them.

"No, no. She doesn't like being close to people for long. She agreed to stay in her shop, back in the village. This place is all yours."

"That's very... courteous of her," Tigress said, not trying to hide her suspicion at all.

"It's not about courtesy," Lion said, turning serious. "She's built up this cabin with protective spells for a very long time. Now, Bura can't get into it—actually he can't get into this entire section of the beach."

"Then why would she want to leave this spot?" Po asked.

"My grandmaster asked her give it up after she foresaw that you need protection. Bura did go to the Valley of Peace for you, you said so yourself. And you should know by now that he doesn't play fair. You don't wanna have to worry about him attacking you or spiriting you away while you're sleeping, trust me on that."

Tigress scowled and stepped so close to Po he could feel her arm brush against his. It startled him a little but he didn't move away.

"Anyway, for now, you two don't need to worry about anything. Help yourselves to whatever's in Sati's kitchen, she'll mind but she'll get over it. And catch some shut-eye. Tomorrow I'll take you back to the Village Hall, introduce you to my teammates, and we'll make a game plan."

Tigress murmured, "Good night," and stepped away toward the sea instead of the cabin. Po watched her go, and moved to follow her until Lion gently grabbed his shoulder. He looked back questioningly.

Lion waited until she was out of earshot, then said lowly, "When Tigress falls asleep, sneak out and come find Sati's shop. The sooner we can get a countercurse, the better."

Po nodded readily. Lion patted his shoulder and said, "You're a great guy, Po. I'm glad she's got someone like you looking out for her." He looked intently over at Tigress, who had dipped her ankles in the gentle waves.

Then Lion dropped his paw and started back the way they came.

"Lion?" Po called to his back. The cat turned. "Thanks."

Lion smiled. "Don't mention it." Then he was gone, and Po and Tigress were finally alone.

Well... it _was_ what Po wanted. Now he was lost on where to go from here. For a long moment all he could do was stand and watch his best friend.

She looked very small now, standing alone with the wide empty sea in front of her. It was a sight worthy of a grand painting, but at the same time something about it seemed very sad to Po. He took a deep breath and went to her side. The wet sand clung to the soles of his feet, and the water took him by surprise with how cold it was washing over his toes. He looked into it, wondering if it matched the water of his nightmare.

Tigress turned to acknowledge him. There was a faint shadow over her face, since the sun was behind them and hiding behind the mountains by now. Her ears tilted forward, listening to the calming sound of the waves under them. Po knew she was seeing him, but for a moment she looked so vacant. Like a ghost. He almost expected her to leave him, wade out into the sea and vanish under the water.

"What's on your mind?" she said with concern. Po realised he must have a really grim expression on his face and shook his head energetically, like he was shaking his bad dream out of his skull. He'd had it eight times now and the last time made him feel just as sick as the first.

He couldn't tell her about it. He kept barely anything a secret from her, and he would've spilled his heart already, if he saw anyone else in the world but her fall through that water.

Tigress waited for his answer, and he knew she'd push him if he tried to say, 'nothing'. Maybe he didn't have to share details, just the general idea.

"I... keep having this dream. It's not a good one. Keeps making me feel like something bad is supposed to happen to... someone."

Tigress' eyes widened. "Shifu was right. You're quickly developing clairvoyance."

"It's not a vision," Po argued.

"How do you know that?" Tigress argued back.

He didn't have a good retort. His best reason for thinking it wasn't was that he just didn't want it to be.

"You can't ignore it. Whoever showed it to you must have done so for a reason."

"What do you mean?" There had been no one else in his dream but the two of them...

Tigress gestured to the open air with her arm. "Visions don't come from nowhere, they're always sent by someone from beyond the mortal realm. An ancestor or spirit guide, perhaps."

"Oh. You mean someone like Oogway?"

She nodded. "Though you said it wasn't good. Oogway was always positive and hopeful in his words of wisdom. I doubt it was from him."

"Who then?" Po couldn't immediately think of anyone who would want to show him such an awful thing. Maybe a villain he'd defeated? But all the most powerful bad guys he faced only spent their energy on self-gain, and Po couldn't see how tormenting him from beyond the grave like this would benefit them. Was it just petty revenge?

Tigress frowned. "I don't know. But whoever they are, they want their message to be received. What did you see in the vision?"

Po cringed. "Not much. I just felt a sense of, uh, impending danger. That's all. No big deal." He didn't like lying to her. But he was pretty sure confronting her with her possibly soon demise would feel worse.

"Po, that sounds like a warning to me. You need to take it seriously."

He wanted to deny it, but he didn't know what to say. So he said, "Alright, alright, I will," and let the matter drop.

They looked away from each other and out at the horizon. The sky was darkening and it would do them good to get to sleep. Tigress didn't move though. Po saw her take in a deep breath of the salty air.

"And what's on your mind?" he asked her.

"I'm thinking of the Valley," Tigress said quietly. She looked up and Po followed her line of sight. Stars were slowly emerging above them. He looked around and found the North Star—it was much lower in this sky than in the Chinese one. They really were miles and miles away.

"It feels weird, huh. Being so far from home." Po looked at Tigress and she looked back at him.

"What do you mean?"

Po shrugged and searched for a good description. "I dunno, it's just weird. Uncomfortable. Lonely."

Tigress considered his words for a moment. Then she said, "I don't feel anything unusual."

He tightened his brow. He didn't know exactly what she meant by that, though he had a hunch. She was used to travelling, she'd done it a lot more than he had in her lifetime. Maybe she didn't get homesick anymore.

She brought her arms across her chest as if she was cold, though they were both used to the water's temperature by now.

Maybe she still did. Po reached out and pried one of her paws away from her. She looked surprised but didn't resist, and he intertwined his fingers with hers before he let their paws fall and swing between them.

Tigress didn't question him. He squeezed her fingers and she returned the favour. It was really pleasant. Why didn't they do this more often?

He knew why, of course. Holding hands was usually for something different to pure friendship. Po's lips twitched while Tigress looked at him calmly. She didn't seem to be planning on saying anything anytime soon, so he could either let their silence carry on, or he could say to her what he should've said a week ago.

He could do this. He just needed to clear his mind and come out with it. And not do the thing he was doing right now, which was hesitating, with his mouth hanging open like a fish.

Okay, he was going to say it now. Right now. Right this moment. _Now_. "Um, there's something I want to tell you. Ask you, actually. Something I want to... ask." Okay, so he was going with a short little intro before he made his big proposition. That was fine.

"What is it, Po?"

Totally fine. Po didn't need to rush into this! They were alone, they had the whole night ahead of them, and absolutely no one was going to interrupt at all. So he didn't have to blurt it out, he could compose himself and then say it coolly and confidently. Couldn't he!

"Hoo boy... okay... Tigress, will you be—?"

She stiffened and twisted her head around, to the rock wall that separated them from Sapana.

"Uh—"

"Did you hear that?" Tigress asked him. She bent her knees, ready to move fast.

Po didn't hear anything but he wasn't surprised. She had much better hearing than he did. "What is it?"

"Someone is climbing over."

Tigress kept her grip on Po's paw, and when the water receded, tugged him back to dry sand so their footsteps would make less noise. They crept over to the wall, and once they were right beside it, Po heard the faint sounds of stones being disturbed and bouncing down, making crackling sounds as they hit the rock below.

They waited carefully, knowing if the climber was an enemy, he or she had a better vantage point to attack from.

The sounds stopped as whoever it was made it to the top. Tigress forced Po to stand flush against the wall with her, where they were a little less noticeable, though Po's belly still stuck out like a bright furry sign. She finally let go of him, and for a second Po mourned the loss of contact before he made himself concentrate.

The stranger leapt over their heads and landed with his back to them. It was hard to make him out in the dimming sunlight, but he was a mammal with a fluffy tail, about as tall as Monkey, and in the same blue kung fu uniform Lion sported. He started to whistle and stroll toward Sati's cabin. Po looked over at Tigress and she seemed to realise when he did that the stranger didn't notice them.

Tigress led the way, with Po flanking her until they were just behind the clueless stranger. Then she let out a sharp deep growl.

The stranger squealed and whirled around. He almost fell back onto his butt, and just managed to stumble his way into a defensive stance. His shock lasted quite a few seconds—Tigress' growl could be very intimidating—and then he dropped his fists. "Oh, _darling_! You scared me half to _death_!"

Po and Tigress exchanged looks before considering the newcomer. He was an anteater, his body stout, and his snout as long as Crane's beak and curved down at the end. He had naturally dark brown fur, but the tuft on top of his head was dyed lilac and shaved in waves to make a fancy pattern.

" _We_ scared _you_?" Po exclaimed. "What's with you trying to sneak up on us at this time of night?"

"Forgive me, forgive me, lovely ones, but I couldn't resist sneaking a peak at you before tomorrow came! Oh, Lion didn't lie when he told me what a _handsome_ couple you are!"

Po glanced at Tigress, wondering if she'd say not to call them a couple, but she said nothing. "I'm guessing you're part of Lion's team?" Po said slowly.

"Why, indeed I am! He didn't mention me? Typical. But it's Master Anteater here, and it's simply _wonderful_ to meet you, Dragon Warrior, Master Tigress!"

He dashed forward and shook Po's paw with both of his own before moving to Tigress'. He held onto her and gazed down at her paw admiringly.

"Your fur is _gorgeous_ , you maintain it so well! Working with a tiger, oh so exciting! I have to find something that'll bring out this colour, please won't you follow me!" He stepped back and tugged gently at Tigress' paw.

She snatched it back. "Follow you where?"

Anteater made a small yelping sound. "When I'm not on patrols, I work as the village tailor, you see, and as guests in Sapana you two need to be fitted up in the local fashion _pronto_!" He made another grab for Tigress' paw and started leading her away. She looked to Po.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, can it wait 'til tomorrow? We've kinda had a long—"

"No no no, don't worry! Come with me, come with me, now that I've seen you in that—is that a _SACK_ you're wearing?!—I _cannot_ let you out of my sight without a style fix! This will be quick and painless!"

Tigress didn't look convinced of either claim. She glared back at Po as Anteater dragged her away, and he followed with a little smile. If this guy was another new ally, they might as well humour him.

When Tigress dropped her gaze, his smile waned. He waited so long to ask her his question. Well, the night was shaping up to be a long one anyway, he could wait a little longer.

xxxxx

Anteater chattered the whole way to his little tailor shop, and Po and Tigress couldn't squeeze in a word around him. His hut was very modest on the outside, but inside was filled to the brim with cloths and ribbons of every texture possible. Every colour too—except red.

The tailor started off playing true to his word when he said this little experience would be quick. He jumped on a length of shiny golden silk, rolled it out and held it up to Po. After a hum of satisfaction, he shooed Tigress behind a room divider and attacked Po's shorts with a pair of fabric shears.

Po barely had time to feel embarrassed. One second he was naked, the tattered remains of his faithful old shorts fluttering to the floor around him, and the next Anteater had twirled the silk around his pelvis and legs. Po curled down around his belly to look at his new style. In honesty, the way the silk was wrapped kind of made it look like a big diaper. But at least the colour was nice and imperial-looking. It reminded him of his chi dragon.

Tigress' experience was not so simple. After slapping Anteater and making him apologise for being too hasty in untying her hanfu, he couldn't decide on the exact thing he wanted to put her in. Apparently female fashion was much more important to get right than male. Most of the time, Tigress was left in nothing but her chest bindings and underwear. Po couldn't pretend he didn't enjoy the sight, but he averted his gaze as much as his imperfect self control allowed, trying to be respectful.

When twenty minutes and outfits passed, Po decided he could be using this time better if he left to find Sati and learned how to save Tigress' life.

As he slipped out the door, he caught the tiger watching him go with a thunderous look in her eyes. He mouthed, 'See you back at the cabin!' and waved apologetically at her. Then he was free.

The village didn't have any lamps outside, which was a slight issue now that it was dark. Po had to navigate using the light from the cracks in closed doorways and windows. All the same, the shop wasn't very difficult to find. Unlike all the residential huts, a swinging sign jutted out above the doorway, showing hands cupping a crystal ball. Po didn't know much about witches but he knew enough to believe such a picture meant he was in the right place. This hut was much bigger than its neighbours too, the door standing eight feet tall just like the one at the cabin.

Po could hear two raised voices, both female, coming from inside. Tentatively, he knocked and waited. The door swung open by magic, catching on the little bell fixed to its hinge. The insiders paid no attention to Po's arrival, they were too busy yelling at each other.

On the left was an elephant as old as Shifu, and Po was amazed at how tall she was. Kai had been crazy tall, and this lady probably had a foot on him. She wore a shabby brown dress—she was the only person Po had seen so far that wasn't in blue—and it was probably as big as one of the sails Po had been under for a week. She bared down on the lady before her, a white cow of the same age and in another blue kung fu getup, who glared up at the elephant with the same intensity.

The elephant spoke next. "Long before you and your frolicking children came to make _my home_ your little glory project—"

The cow immediately shouted over her. "You forget that it isn't truly _your home_ , you weren't born here, you may leave whenever you please—"

"I made a promise to these people, that I would set them free from The Disgrace—"

"Yes, you've really kept to that promise, haven't you—"

_"I've been fighting him all my life—!"_

_"And you haven't defeated him yet so—!"_

"Heeeeey!" Po cried above them. They stopped arguing and looked to him. The elephant kept her glare, but the cow pursed her lips together in embarrassment and approached him.

"The Dragon Warrior..." She brought her hooves into the kung fu salute and Po mirrored her. "Thank you for coming to Sapana."

"He didn't come here for you," the elephant snapped, and was ignored.

"I am Grandmaster Cow. Forgive me for what you just saw, I was behaving improperly." There was a scoff behind her and she gritted her teeth.

Po spoke up quickly before the two started arguing again. "Nice to meet you. I'm looking for a Sati?"

"Then you can stop looking," the elephant grumbled, "here I am." She looked at Cow. "Big Belly and I are about to have a private discussion. Get out."

Cow threw her a dirty look. "Show some respect to a hero of China."

"I will give him respect when I've seen him earn it for myself."

Cow sighed before smoothing her face back out for Po. "We will talk tomorrow. Good night, and good luck with this one." She left, her hooves stomping on the floorboards.

Po watched her go, then stepped further into the shop. It was lit by a dozen candles hovering all around the room. A giant table stood at the back with the advertised crystal ball on it, and there was a whole collection of curtains and sashes dangling down from the ceiling. The walls were lined with shelves holding hundreds of vials and scrolls. After giving the place a once-over, Po looked back at Sati to see she was giving him the same treatment.

Po started, "I came to ask for your help—"

"I know, I have seen you and your teammate speak with Big Hair in my ball. The Disgrace has cursed her to steal her jing."

It was weird how she referred to Bura and Lion, though Po wasn't going to comment on it. He tried to be professional, and not let his ears droop at the words. "Yeah. So if you've got a countercurse to, y'know, stop that from happening, that would be awesome."

The elephant lumbered to her table and used magic to pull a massive chair out for herself. Unlike everyone else Po had seen, her magic was red-tinted, which made a knot form in his stomach. He wondered why she didn't pay attention to the colour ban. She sat down and beckoned Po to come sit in another chair. He tried to predict what was going to happen, and mentally prepare himself in case he was about to see more magic.

He wasn't, Sati just looked at him intensely. Po stared back, hoping this was giving her a good impression of how serious he was.

"What would you do for Red Eyes?"

"...What?" Sati didn't repeat herself, and Po decided she must be referring to Tigress. He fought the urge to start fidgeting with his fingers, and answered honestly. "...Anything. I'd do anything."

"Would you die for her?"

Such a serious topic. Sati let the question stretch out again, and it dawned on Po that she was testing him. Maybe deciding if he deserved her assistance. He brought his brow down. "In a heartbeat. And I mean, technically I already have." Sati didn't ask what he meant—she must have heard about his journey to the Spirit Realm. Of course he didn't throw himself in there just for Tigress—it was for his dads, all his other friends and his panda family too. But even if Tigress had been the only one Kai threatened, he still would've done it to save her alone. He wondered if she knew that.

"Would you kill for her?"

Now Po remembered with clarity the warning Shifu gave him, and he was worried. "Why ask such a weird question? Do you want me to be some kind of assassin for you in exchange for your help?"

Sati smiled sardonically. "Answer me."

Po looked down at his paws. "Well, technically I've already done that too."

He saw Sati's trunk bobble up and down as she nodded. "You came in here asking for something I can't easily give you. It is not within my power to lift a curse of The Disgrace. He's stronger than I am." Bitterness seeped into her last few words.

Po's head shot up. "What? You mean, you can't... do anything to stop him?" His heart dropped like a rock had fallen into it.

Sati sighed. "Not alone. He has cast so many curses over the years, and I tried to break each one. For some I was successful, at a personal cost." She looked down at her arms, which were hanging limply at her sides. "For most, I could do nothing." She found Po's gaze again and suddenly looked angry, though he realised it wasn't directed at him. "I hope you understand—no pleas or bargains will ever make The Disgrace abandon his cruelty. If his curses are to come to an end, you must help me kill him."

Po didn't like the idea. He avoided killing whenever he could. But he took his oath to fight for justice seriously. And Bura had killed the innocent. So Po nodded.

Sati smiled, and it was far more good-natured this time. "I'm sure you know it will not be easy. He has evaded defeat for years and years. Prepare yourself for the chance that Red Eyes' time will run out before we find a way to end him."

Po shook his head and put his fists on the table. "I'm not gonna let that happen. Please, if there's anything that could help Tigress, like some kind of protection spell or anything, tell me. And if you can't cast it, then I'll try."

He shocked her. Sati stared at him for a moment before she laughed. "You haven't been listening. I've practised the magical arts my entire life and even I can't match The Disgrace. Do you really believe you could within a matter of weeks?"

Po shrugged. "I get it, the odds are against me. But in the last five years I mastered kung fu, inner peace and chi—I think my track record's pretty good! At least let me try." He took his paws off the table and straightened his back out. "So could you give me a little Magic Level Zero lesson? How do you summon it?"

Sati drew her lip up to her short tusks. Apparently Po had offended her. "Your first mistake, magic isn't 'summoned'. It is not a force in itself, simply the name given to any supernatural act. You have already wielded magic. What else would you call instant healing?" Her voice started to rise. "But you purist kung fu warriors don't like to think of it that way, you pick and choose what's acceptable magic and what isn't. You have the nerve to look down on the arts, and judge them from the few evil practitioners like The Disgrace."

Po matched the scowl Sati was now wearing. "Look, I don't know your history with masters, and I didn't come to fight about this stuff. I'm here 'cause I want to save Tigress and kick Bura's butt. If you want the same things, then we're on the same team. Right?" Po briefly stuck his paw out. Sati didn't make any move to shake it, but her face did soften.

"Alright. You need to know that you can't stop him from taking Red Eyes' jing, but there is a way to be sure this doesn't kill her." Sati rose to her feet and turned her back on Po to consider her shelves. "Unlike your famous chi, which is potentially limitless and flows all around us, jing is finite, and you cannot find it just anywhere. If you want to be sure her soul is safe, you must replace all the jing she has lost, and will lose, with your own. You would take her place as the one in mortal danger."

Po thought this through for a second and decided it made sense. All magic had a cost. Tigress would be so angry about this, but what she didn't know couldn't stop him. "I wasn't kidding around when I said I'd die for her. Tell me how to do this thing."

Sati looked back at him, and Po thought he could see a flicker of admiration in her eyes. "Why?"

Po was taken aback. "Why what?"

"Why would you risk your life for her? Because you're a 'noble' master?"

"No..." Po said. He didn't know exactly how to answer, how truthful to be in front of what was basically a stranger. "Tigress is my best friend. I really... care for her. I always have, even before we first met, for as long as I can remember."

Sati looked satisfied with this answer. She turned back to a shelf, and a small hole materialised on the wall it was fixed to. A scroll floated out and came to hover beside her head. "There are two ways to change jing. One is the way of The Disgrace. A person can drag the life energy out of another if they hate them deeply."

That meant Bura must really despise Tigress. Po couldn't see why. Who in the world could hate someone like her? And she never wronged him, she never even met him. Po shook his head. "Hatred doesn't exactly apply to Tigress and me." And he was sure it never would.

Sati nodded. "This is the only other way." Her scroll floated over and into Po's waiting paws. It had an old grey leather case around it, and a painted symbol in the centre—three large spirals, one red, one a mix of yellow and green, one blue—twirling out from a central point.

"A Triskele Scroll. Be extremely careful with it, it's a precious relic and there are no longer any other copies in this region. It contains an amendment about jing changing. The instructions are clear, so don't bother me for more help or I will hex you."

Something about Sati's expression was now very guarded. Po gripped the scroll with both paws and brought it close to his chest. "Okay. Thank you, Sati."

She grunted. "Yes, yes. Go away now."

Po smiled and gave her a little bow of his head before he left for the door.

"One more thing," the elephant said after him. "Do not overdo it. The magic in that scroll is powerful, and you could easily meet an early end if you're careless. I'm sure Red Eyes wouldn't appreciate you dying on her." Sati then ducked through a door further into the hut.

Po glanced down at Sati's gift, and decided it was time to go learn how to rescue Tigress. From Bura, not from Anteater. Po had every faith that she could handle that little guy herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late and 7000+ words lmaooo consistency what's that
> 
> Since I'm being obnoxious with the word count I'm gonna start including chapter summaries: Po and bae check in at a holiday resort, it's awks, Po gets cockblocked by a metrosexual and is given a piece of paper that could kill him, long day~~


	8. "Not that wise..."

Walking through Sapana at night, it was hard to believe anyone lived here at all. Even though the villagers were tucked away in their huts, Po couldn't make out anything above careful murmurs. The place was quieter still when he reached the village outskirts. There, all he could hear was whispers.

They were soon drowned out by a rushing sound. Po's kung fu instincts kicked in—before his brain registered why, he found himself with his knees bent and one paw raised in perfect defensive form, the other hiding his new scroll behind his back. He looked up, and just under the jungle canopy hovered Bura.

Every hut in sight went dark. The villagers had snuffed out all their candles and lanterns. They settled into a tense silence, as if they expected some natural disaster was about to hit them.

Po easily found Bura's face, illuminated by his staff's orb. He glared up at the lizard. "How long have you been spying on me?"

"Since your arrival," Bura said, giving him a patronising smile. "I have eyes and ears everywhere in Sapana. Apart from The Failure's trinket shop, but I'm sure everything you two spoke about in there was completely inane." He tossed his cloak back over his shoulders and held his arms out wide, as if he was embracing the night. "Welcome to my humble home."

Po didn't drop his stance. "It won't be 'yours' for much longer, Tigress and me are gonna make sure of that."

"Spare me the belligerence, Po. None of your friends are here, there's no need to keep up appearances. I'll give you my offer again, leave with me and become my apprentice. It's a waste of talent on your side of this fight."

Po scoffed. "Listen, I'm only gonna say it once— _never in ten thousand years._ " He pointed at the lizard, wishing he knew how to use a zapping spell or something. "I know what you are and what you've done to my best friend."

Bura raised his brow. "Oh? I thought tigers were strong. Is she still licking her wounds?"

"Don't play dumb," Po snarled, "you know I'm talking about the curse you gave her. How can you think you've got a right to just take her jing?"

Bura's face turned blank for a moment. Then he broke out into a grin where Po could see all his teeth, and shook with suppressed laughter. It took time for him to compose himself and say, "With the state her soul is in... this fate is actually a blessing. A girl like her is too corrupt to do any real good in this world, it's better for everyone if she leaves it."

Po wanted to punch him until his paws went numb. "I don't care what you call it, I don't care about any of this garbage you're saying. Here's a promise—I'm gonna do whatever it takes to protect her from you."

Bura shook his head as if he was entitled to be disappointed in Po. "I expected more from the Dragon Warrior, but you're a fool for a pretty face like everyone else."

Po ignored him. "I'm gonna start with this." He brought his paw out from behind him and let Bura catch a glimpse of the Triskele Scroll. Maybe it was reckless of him, but he was very ready to defend this thing if Bura tried to snatch it. Part of him hoped the lizard would, Po couldn't remember ever being so eager for a stand-off to escalate.

He hoped seeing the scroll might knock Bura's confidence, but the warlock just dipped his head and laughed without holding it in this time. "That crude experiment? One more reason for The Failure's title. It hardly intimidates me when she's never made it work before." He smirked down at Po. "But this is a new age, and you are a new class. I have every faith that you and your friend can change jing. It will only be a waste of time—you won't save her."

"Just watch me."

Bura's thin tongue flicked against his teeth in the reptilian equivalent of a tut. "If you don't let her go now, you are choosing a future of pain. Because I pity you, here's a warning that I'm sure The Failure neglected to mention. To change jing, you must cut open your soul, and this makes a wound that can't heal. It's a point of no return. As long as your little friend is alive, you'll never recover."

So this was the fine print. Po didn't know what it meant, what a wound on his soul was going to look like or do to him, but if it didn't spell literal death, how bad could it be? "I can live with that."

"Perhaps." Bura raised his staff. "But not for long."

Po tensed, prepared to leap out the way, but Bura didn't attack him. Instead a flash of red light engulfed the lizard, and when Po's eyes adjusted, he was gone.

Were all Komodo dragons venomous, or was he the only one? Po shoved everything he heard to the back of his mind and kept on walking to Sati's cabin.

The light didn't return in any of the huts, so he walked in darkness.

xxxxx

Once Po was a step in front of the cabin door, it opened by itself. It creaked as it went, which was a little creepy, especially with how dark the inside was. The darkness didn't last long—as Po shook the sand off his feet and stepped over the threshold, dozens of candles and a small metal stove lit themselves up. All the window shutters swung open too, letting the sea breeze into the stuffy place.

Po expected Sati's home to look like her shop, with loads of shrouds, vials and magic scrolls everywhere, and maybe a giant cauldron too. There was nothing like that, it seemed even witches needed to take a break from their craft sometimes.

On the left of this first room, a rug lay in front of a squashy pouffe. At least, it was a pouffe to Sati—it was so big it was just a regular seat to Po or Tigress. And there was a dining table that would come up to their necks, so they probably weren't gonna use that. A much lower end table stood next to the pouffe, that would work better. On the right was a kitchen area where the wooden floorboards gave way to tiles. Again the countertops were at Po's neck, and he would have to jump if he wanted to reach the upper cupboards.

This was such a strange experience. For a big chunk of his life, Po had been the overgrown one, barely fitting into any space in his dad's restaurant. He finally found stretching room at the Jade Palace, and now he was dwarfed by everything in here. He wondered what Tigress would think of it all.

In the back was an archway to another room, separated by bead curtains that jangled as Po went through. It was the bedroom, and the bed was the biggest piece of furniture he'd ever seen. It left kingsize far behind. At least it was very low hanging by Sati's standards—it came up to Po's hips. He walked to it. A giant mosquito net hung over the whole thing, so he drew part of the gossamer drape up to test the creamy-white duvet between his fingers. It was so soft, much softer than his cot back home, or his new clothing, or anything he could think of. Except maybe Tigress' fur.

The handful of times Po had the privilege of touching her so closely came rushing back to him while he was standing beside this lovely bed. The breeze from the open window didn't do much to soothe his reddening face. He wondered when Tigress would come back, and what she'd want to do once she was here.

Po turned his back on the bed. Probably sleep. He needed to behave himself.

There wasn't much else in here except for a storage chest in the corner. Po hoisted himself up on one windowsill, it was as nice a sitting spot as anywhere. From here he had a great view of the rock wall, a bit of the jungle, and the sea. What a lovely night for dangerous and controversial magic. He looked down at his scroll, unraveled the casing, and started rolling it out.

He came to his first snag—the scroll wasn't written in Chinese. He assumed this was the local language, and it was entirely different. All the characters flowed into each other, and kept repeating as if there were only a handful to choose from in this script. It was beautifully written, but that couldn't exactly help.

Po frowned, wondering for a second how to deal with this before he noticed the scroll had pictures further along. They suffered water damage a long time ago, their ink and paint all cracked and dried in streams flowing down the parchment.

It took a while for him to figure out what the pictures were of. He realised it was because he was looking at this thing wrong—he was supposed to hold the scroll vertically. So the writing was written side-to-side instead of top-down, how unique! This place was so weird.

But even in Sapana, people seemed to be the same. Through the damage, Po saw three grey figures, drawn so simply that they didn't have gender or species—they didn't even have faces. The first one looked like they were bowing at a big blue orb, and smears of blue paint surrounded them.

The second struck a chord in Po's memory. They were sitting in the lotus position, with their hands up and splayed. Around one side was a splotch of happy yellow, around the other a sickly green.

The third was floating with their arms and legs tucked in like they were a newborn baby, and red paint swirling all around them.

There was writing around each figure but search Po if he had any clue what it said. He unrolled more of the scroll and the parchment changed, there was a new section glued to the end of the first that was much clearer and cleaner.

The amendment, jackpot. Time to learn the secret of changing jing!

There were a lot more figures on this page, all of them in pairs. This time Po could figure what their genders were. Actually, it was very obvious—they were all naked. And whoever drew them was very... generous about those body parts that made gender obvious...

Po was only just processing this when he looked more closely at the couples and his mouth fell open. Some of them were both male or female, most of them were mixed, and they were all embracing each other.

No, embracing wasn't the right word. They were all very close to their partners but only one pair seemed to be hugging, tightly, and horizontally, with their whole bodies pressed up against each other. And they were definitely still naked.

Every other couple was doing something different. The next one had the lady kneeling down in front of the guy, tending to his... tenders with her mouth. Beside that picture was the opposite, the guy kneeling with his face buried between his lady's legs. The next had the lady on all fours with the guy behind her, their hips aligned. And the next had the lady sitting on the guy's pelvis... the next sitting on his face...

It didn't stop, it kept going. For a second all Po could do was marvel at whoever drew all this and how creative they were. There was dozens and dozens of the same kind of thing, and some of these—moves? Was that the right word?—were crazy. Like this next one—were regular non-kung fu people even that _flexible_ —?!

He really did believe things couldn't get freakier. And then he scrolled down, and it wasn't just pictures of bodies he was seeing. No, the scroll was switching things up with objects too. A lady—everyone was _still naked_ —stood with her hands cuffed behind her back, and a different one was wearing a blindfold, and a different one had some cloth tied tightly around her mouth.

And Po was falling down a rabbit hole by this point. The next guy had his lady bent over his knees, and he was in the middle of swinging what looked like a mini carpet beater down on her rump. Then another had—was that a _whip?_ —and another was holding—what was _**THAT?**_ It was like a really big replica of a guy's—

Po stopped looking. He finally, _finally_ recognised what went down tonight. Sati gave him erotica.

He slowly and carefully rolled the scroll back up, then stared at the wall. Maybe he should get off the windowsill and lie down on the floor, because his face was filled with so much blood he thought it might actually fall off.

Wow. Bravo Sati, this was a hilarious joke, just hilarious. Who could've known a grump like her had a sense of humour? And such a lewd one too. Great prank. Ha. Ha.

Anger suddenly hit him. He went to this witch to save his friend and instead of giving him help, she dropped _this_ in his lap. It wasn't hilarious at all.

Po jumped off the sill and onto his feet. It was well into the night but he couldn't care less—he was gonna march down to the witch's shop, slam on the door and ask her what the hell her problem was, playing around with Tigress' safety. Honestly, who does something like this?!

And how? After everything Sati asked, and everything Po told her, why would she be so spiteful? He said he was willing to put his life on the line for Tigress. That he'd do anything, anything at all for her...

He meant what he said, but he didn't expect _this_. It had to be another test, it couldn't be real. This couldn't be how jing changing worked—

Po stopped in front of the bead curtains, and his face went pale. A memory rose up in his mind.

He flipped the casing off again and rolled the scroll out. He kept going to the end, trying to skim all the naughtiness. There had to be a point to it all.

And there was, he found it. At the end of the parchment was a final picture, so much sweeter than any that came before. It showed a couple, face-to-face with the lady sitting on the guy's lap. They were holding hands and leaning their foreheads against each other. Bright red paint covered their stomachs.

Po sat down. Well, he slumped down on his butt. This really was how it worked. He knew—it already did work. He and Tigress had done this, summoned jing together without even knowing how or what it was, and for her sake they had to do it again.

Yeah, it was exactly what their relationship could use right now. How was Po supposed to explain this without revealing that she was cursed? 'Hey Tigress buddy! You and me really need to do the waka-waka, the rumpy-pumpy, some adult naptime! Or something suuuper bad, can't tell you what, is gonna happen in like, a fortnight!' He clenched his teeth. The ship journey cut off a third of Tigress' remaining time. Now he had just two weeks, fourteen days to seduce her—without the aid of a spell that messed with her mind this time—or she was done for.

Who needed this kind of pressure?! Wasn't courtship tough enough without it?! Po wished he brought his love note with him, he couldn't do this alone.

A dull thud vibrated through the floorboards, making him jump.

"Po?" Tigress was back, climbing the porch steps.

A slightly manic guffaw escaped him. He rolled the scroll up, with less care and more speed this time, before throwing it behind the chest in the corner. No way was he letting her see that thing, not right now. Maybe not ever, he was sure the blood vessels in his face couldn't handle much more embarrassment before they just gave out on him.

"Po?" Tigress called out again.

"In here! I'm coming!" He stumbled through the doorway and got tangled in the bead curtains for a moment. When he freed himself he looked to see if Tigress noticed his blunder, but as she stepped through the open door to the cabin, her face and most of her body were hidden from sight by the mountain of colourful clothing she carried.

It was easier to apologise when he couldn't see her directly. "Sorry for ditching you before."

She didn't berate him as he expected her to. "I'll forgive you if you help me."

Po trotted over and took some of her load, revealing her face. "What's all this stuff?"

"Master Anteater gave us half of his shop. As guests in Sapana, we're expected to wear something new every day. What an annoying custom..." Tigress shook her head and dropped her pile of cloth on the pouffe.

Now her arms were empty, Po could take in her new outfit. His face melted. It was... just a beautiful thing. So girlish, nothing like her usual style. She had on a low-collared short-sleeved little blouse thing, super form-fitting, that ended just under her breasts. Her abdomen was bare, and hanging low on her hips was a fluttering skirt that went down to her ankles, with a little hole for her tail to poke out of. The look was finished off by the dainty sash hanging across her body from her left shoulder.

The whole thing was in shining silk, and a familiar colour. Po's smile slid off his face. He had seen her in this exact shade of purple before, in his sleep. No, it was a coincidence. This wasn't the right clothing style anyway, she was wearing a dress in the dreams, not a shirt and skirt.

Tigress noticed him staring at her, and gestured to herself. "He called this ensemble a 'ghagra choli'. I call it 'inconvenient'."

Po shook himself out of his thoughts and brought his eyes up to her face. "Inconvenient?"

Tigress hummed yes. "This thing," she grabbed handfuls of her skirt, "is not made for kung fu. It'll rip at my first high kick."

His smile returned. It might be inconvenient, but it wouldn't make a bad view, that was for sure. Tigress had deliciously toned legs.

She blinked at him. Po got the impression that she read his mind, or at least his expression, and they avoided looking at each other for a moment. Po needed to psych himself up before he raised his eyes again. When he did, Tigress snaked the end of her sash through her fingers and frowned. "This place is overindulgent."

"Overindulgence suits you," Po said without thinking.

Tigress stopped fidgeting and levelled her stare.

"I—I mean, that wasn't a, I'm not trying to say you're vain or anything, you just look really, that really..." He was breaking his own rule. When talking with Tigress, always be direct and she would appreciate it. "You look really nice."

She didn't seem any more prepared to take the compliment than he did to give it. He cleared his throat, looked down at the pile of clothes still in his arms, and put them down with the rest.

Tigress walked around him to check out the cabin for herself. "So what have you been doing here?"

Definitely not looking at kinky pictures in a strange scroll given to him by a witch, part of him wanted to say. "Uh..." He looked around for a good cover story and spied the kitchen cupboards. "Preparing supper."

"Oh?" Tigress was too smart and knew him too well to buy that, but she didn't call him out, and followed him as he stepped into the kitchen area.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm starving, are you starving? I'm starving." The first cupboard he opened was full of bowls, the next cups, the next pots and pans. "Um..."

"Perhaps the food is in here?" Tigress said, using her foot to tap on a trapdoor in the corner Po hadn't spotted. That was weird, there was nothing but the foundation of the cabin right underneath them.

Or at least there shouldn't have been anything. When Po opened the door up, there was a ladder going down into a very cramped but well-stocked pantry.

Po dropped in first, since Tigress was busy glaring at the physics-defying space as if she was about to interrogate it for why it existed. But she came down behind him anyway.

It was unnaturally cool in here, probably because of another spell. Po had no idea how Sati used this thing, since the space could barely fit him, and it was really struggling with Tigress in it at the same time. His eyes widened as her bare midriff accidentally brushed against his own.

"So what do we have?" she asked.

Po tried to ignore her fur tickling him and checked the little shelves. "Well... here's some fruit! A nice and easy snack before bed. Want something sweet?"

She found his eyes and smiled. "Yes, please."

Her voice turned soft. That, along with the closeness and the dim light in here, was a little too much for Po. The pictures in the Triskele Scroll flashed through his eyes and he could feel himself start to sweat. He picked up a random piece of fruit without looking at it and offered it to her. "H-how's this?"

Tigress looked at it. Her smile dropped. "Oh... no, Po, that's not..."

Po felt like he'd just gotten something wrong here but he had no clue what. He tried to laugh it off and looked down at what he picked up. It was small, green and fuzzy—a kiwi, he was pretty sure, though he'd never actually seen one outside of his goose dad's cookbooks. What was the problem with it? Maybe she didn't think it looked fresh.

"Really? I'm sure it's good!" When Tigress still didn't take it from him, he decided to test it for her. He bit down on it, expecting some nice refreshing juice.

It was the most bitter, disgusting thing he'd ever tasted, and on top of that, he hurt his teeth on the large hard seed inside the thing. He quickly turned away from Tigress so he could spit it out. "Eughh! Kiwis are gross!"

"It's not a kiwi, it's an almond drupe. And you're not supposed to eat them like this, the raw flesh of the fruit is toxic."

Po made another sound of disgust and wiped his tongue with his palm. He heard Tigress giggle and turned back in shock. That... was a really cute sound. So cute, he was tempted to say it was worth poisoning himself for.

"Don't worry, such a small amount won't harm you," Tigress said, her smile back in full effect.

"Eh... phew, heh heh." Po dropped the drupe, and instead of hitting the ground it floated away out of the pantry, quickly as if it was really hurt by Po's rejection. He turned to the shelf, deciding he'd better pay attention to what he was putting in his mouth this time.

To his real shock, he wasn't sure he could recognise much of anything in here. There were some burlap pouches full of seeds whose origin he had no clue about, most of the fruits and vegetables were alien to him, and even the breads were weird, all flat and circular instead of raised. The only thing he was sure of was the rice sacks. He grew up in a restaurant, for Heaven's sake! Why was he at such a loss?

"Many of these foods don't grow in China," Tigress answered his silent question. She leaned over him, the fur on her arms dragging over his shoulder very distractingly, and picked up two bright yellow pieces of fruit out of a little basket. He was handed one. "This is similar to a lemon, you'll like it very much."

"What is it?" Po asked as he brought it to his mouth.

"A carambola."

Ah. She was right, it was delightful, and cleared the bitterness off Po's tongue immediately. "How come you know it?"

"The Five and I never came to India but we did see many places in our time, you know this." He didn't fight the admiration rising up on his face, and Tigress smiled coyly at the look he gave her. She picked up a small selection of different fruits.

"This one is a guava, this is a lychee, here's a papaya, and this is dragonfruit—you'll really like this one as well, and not only because of the name." Po grinned and took them all when she gave them up. "Which one do you want to try next?"

Po's stomach answered before he could, with a deep growl. He had enough time to chuckle in embarrassment, and then the pantry came to life in response to the sound. A dozen different ingredients, including Po's new fruit, floated up past them and out of the trapdoor. The two masters glanced questioningly at each other. Then Tigress turned and jumped up out of the trapdoor hole. Po caught a glimpse of her undergarments under her skirt as she went, and he didn't know whether his mouth started to water because of that, or his body just had very coincidental timing.

He did know which one he'd bet on. He jumped up and after Tigress, and felt the warm air of India on him the second he cleared the pantry. The two of them watched as a bunch of different things happened at the same time in the kitchen. A pot of rice landed on the hob, a knife chopped vegetables, loads of different pastes and sauces slid into tiny bowls and some flatbreads stacked themselves on a plate.

Po whistled. "Wow. A spell that makes meals for you. My dad would give up all his savings to learn how to do this!"

He chuckled and looked over at Tigress, but she was far from laughing herself. She paled, and her eyes darted between all the animated knives. It seemed like this display was finally too much for her after seeing magic all evening.

Po frowned in concern and took her paw. She didn't look away from the knives and Po's wisdom told him to take her outside. She let him drag her away, but she didn't let up her vigilance for a second as they turned their back on Sati's home.

xxxxx

"I... lost my focus," Tigress said with a frown.

"A little, yeah," Po told her. They sat beside each other on the porch steps, faced the calming sea and waited. He didn't let go of her paw for a while, until he had to because the ready meal came over in platters, and bumped against their backs to make them move. Po and Tigress shifted away from each other, and the platters landed on the wooden floor between them.

There was an abundance of food here, which was fine by Po. He reached out his left paw and tried to pick up a piece of bread.

A large nut shot up from its bowl and whacked his paw. "Ow! What the—"

Tigress' own paw shot out in a blur, and in the next moment the nut clattered on the floorboards in pieces. She caught Po's bewildered expression and muttered, "Temperamental magic..."

"Huh..." Po didn't say so but he thought there must be a reason for the nut's rudeness. He waited for a moment and tried to take some bread again, but history repeated itself. Before a new nut could whack him, he brought his paw back and made a noise of protest. The cabin wasn't hosting them very well, they shouldn't have to fight for their food!

Po watched Tigress as she glared at the nut and took a bell pepper without a problem. He was very confused, what was he doing wrong?

He could think up a few reasons. Maybe it was rude for a guy to take the first bite before a girl, or maybe they weren't supposed to start with the breads.

His theories were in the right ballpark—Tigress figured out the etiquette. "You're not supposed to eat with your left hand here."

"That's so weird and arbitrary!"

She shrugged. "This country has different ways to us. I expect the people here would be 'weirded out' by our chopsticks."

Po looked down and realised chopsticks were indeed missing from an Indian table, or in this case porch floor. And there weren't any spoons either. "What... how can we eat the rice?"

Tigress considered all the foods in front of them, then picked up some flatbread and carefully dug it into the rice, scooping some up. She raised it to Po. "Here."

Po moved to take it out of her paw, but it was high up—she wasn't trying to pass it to him. His cheeks needed to cool it, there was nothing embarrassing about this. Tigress was just offering to feed him, it wasn't a big deal. Even if she'd ever done it before.

He wouldn't leave her hanging. He leaned forward and took a nibble, concentrating so he didn't bite her fingers. A few grains stuck around his mouth. This was _slightly_ embarrassing. On their personal scale of one to ten, ten being when Po accidentally caught his friend with her pants down, and also when she caught his little overexcitement—on that scale it wasn't even a three. Tigress smiled so widely that her eyes squinted, and with her free paw brushed the rice off Po's cheeks.

She lingered against his fur. Po hoped she didn't notice how warm he was. He gulped and looked away, down at the food they hadn't touched yet. There was nothing he could think to say or do himself, so he copied her. He picked up the closest thing to him—a slice of a green-skinned, yellow-fleshed fruit or vegetable or whatever—and brought it to her muzzle.

Tigress inspected it, and him, for a long while. She seemed to accept something in her thoughts. "Avocado. Very exotic." She bit into it, and kept her eyes on Po as she slowly dragged the flesh off the skin with her teeth.

Po was very confused at why that made his stomach flutter. His words were still failing him, so he watched and waited as she finished her mouthful.

A quiet, secretive smile came over Tigress' face. "I was told this fruit has a special property."

"Really? What's that?"

She rubbed at her lips with her thumb. "First I'll test what I was told. If it's true, I'll tell you."

Po followed her lead as she picked up some more bread. The lull in the conversation gave him some time to think about the girl in front of him.

"...Tigress?"

"Hm?"

"Do you want... do you think we need to talk about some things?"

She didn't answer. Okay, yeah, he knew bringing this up would be tough. But he didn't back down from stuff just because it wasn't easy! "You know, you and me? Fooling around together? I kinda... want to make sure that everything's okay between us."

Wow, where was his medal for exceptional charm, tact and romance? Tigress would be leaping into his arms in a moment.

Not quite, but she did close her eyes, bow her head and smile deeply. "Oh, Po. Too often I still see you as the young, silly panda who strapped fireworks to himself and crash-landed in front of me. The one who had no idea what he was doing, but knew he wanted to do it well. And even now, you're still naive about so many things. But for everything else, you are the wisest person I know."

She reached out and laid her paw down over his own. Po couldn't tell what was making his heart beat faster, the touch or the praise.

"No matter anything that happens," Tigress said, "please know, I admire you and I trust you."

Po made a small choking sound. Very simple words, but they'd be ringing in his head for an hour straight. He tried to cover up his outburst by shoving a sauce-covered roll in his mouth. It was something he really should've taken slowly—his tongue practically burst into flames, the sauce was so spicy. He flailed his arms around for a minute before a tall wooden cup of fruit juice was pressed into his paws. He drank gratefully and sighed in relief when he reached the bottom.

"I'm not that wise..." he croaked through his numb mouth. "Not as wise as you."

Tigress shook her head but didn't argue. "Eat up, it's late and I think it'll be some time yet before we finally sleep."

Po tried to catch her gaze, and ask with his eyes what she meant by that. She avoided looking at him. Another secretive smile was on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: fr e sh a voca do
> 
> Sorry for being cliffhanger-y XD there was gonna be more to this chapter but the word count got r i d i c again so I'm splitting it, I have so much to say wtf


	9. "Is that good?"

After they had their fill, the platters zoomed into the kitchen to wash themselves. Po followed Tigress inside and closed the door behind them. It was funny—the night around him was so quiet that he had no distraction from the rushing in his ears.

Tigress led the way into the bedroom. When Po came in past the curtains, he caught a lovely view of her mostly bare back. She stood at the foot of the bed, looking down on it thoughtfully. He could tell there was something on her mind and took a stab at what it was.

"Um, Tigress, you take this, I'll sleep on the rug."

"Don't be silly," she said, turning to face him. "There's plenty of space for the both of us right here. It's wholly unnecessary." Po wasn't sure if she meant his suggestion or the space. She smoothed down the fur on her stomach.

Po followed the movement of her paws. She almost always had her midriff covered, and he'd seen it before when her clothing had been damaged in missions, seen it even tonight in Anteater's shop, but this moment felt very different from the others. "Whuh... uh..."

"You don't want to sleep with me?" Tigress tilted her head to the side, looking at Po like he was a curiosity.

"No no, that's totally cool with me, I don't mind sleeping... with..." He could feel the fur on the back of his neck rise. It was so late and he was the furthest thing from tired. "How exactly do you mean that?"

"How do you want me to mean it?"

Po gaped. Tigress grinned at him the way she did so many times back in the dojo just before she challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. He always accepted even though he always lost.

Nothing but babble came out when he tried to speak. He didn't expect anything less from himself. Tigress stepped toward him until they were within touching distance, and he forced himself to stop.

"Po?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to have sex with me?"

Another string of intelligent sounds fell out of Po's mouth. They sounded like laughter, but less like the amused kind and more like the being-tickled-to-death kind. Here he was, worrying about how _he_ was going to do the seducing, when Tigress already had everything figured out.

Once he could, he did nothing but answer honestly. "Y-y-y-yes—yeah—that'd be— _yes_."

Her eyes lit up in a way he rarely saw. His whole body jumped when her paws shot out and grabbed his jaw. Then her lips were on his. Why was each new kiss better than every one that came before it? He took hold of her elbows to keep the both of them upright, and reluctantly let Tigress pull away.

Her smile was so beautiful, and even more so while Po could see it up close. It would make even the steadiest warrior shake with nerves, he was sure. He asked, in a small voice, "You... really want me in this kind of way?"

Tigress' brow raised. "You don't already know that I do?"

"I..." Po knew how overenthusiastic he could be about things. He never wanted to assume, and mistake his hope with his perception.

She squeezed his cheeks, affection pouring out of her eyes. Then she coiled her arms around his neck. "Po, there's something I want you to hear. The time, last week, when you had me against that tree..." She dragged his head down so she could murmur into his ear. "I never got off so fast before."

Po was frozen. Until she laid a kiss on the edge of his jaw, and then he was the opposite, he was suddenly boiling, heat rolling off of his skin. He pulled her into himself and pressed his muzzle into the side of her neck. She smelled like fresh salt, from the sea, and her sweat. He knew it would be delicious even before he ran his tongue over her fur.

He was very happy to stand here and keep tasting her, but Tigress gently pushed his face away so they could look at each other. Her fur was ruffled in every place Po had brushed against her, but her expression was calm and controlled.

"Before we go further..."

Po dropped his paws to her waist and gripped her, suddenly on alert. "What is it?"

Tigress gripped him back, reassuringly, though her expression still worried him. "Once we've done this... your opinion of me may change."

Surprised, Po held her even tighter. "What do you mean?"

She lowered her gaze and her fingers, and began to play with the fur on his chest. Then she took in a deep breath. "You may come to feel something new for me. Which is deeper than friendship."

A wobbly smile spread over Po's face. He opened his mouth to say they might be pretty far into that already.

Before he could, Tigress snapped her head up and silenced him with her stare. "If this happens, you must resist everything you feel. Ignore and suppress it, because it's a trick of your mind."

The smile slid off Po's face. He didn't get it, but Tigress looked at him expectantly, so he nodded without knowing exactly what he was nodding to.

"Do you understand? When we wake up tomorrow morning, you might feel different. But you can't _be_ different. Treat me the same as you always have. You and I are teammates, best friends. We can't let that change, at all."

Po's mouth went dry, and he fought to make his expression neutral as he thought about her words. If he wasn't wrong, it sounded like Tigress didn't want the two of them to fall into any kind of romance. It was a little bit funny, she'd just shot him down before he even actually asked her to be his girlfriend!

He felt really... he didn't know.

Tigress flattened her palms on him, ready to move away. "Are you okay with that?"

Po's mouth opened and closed a few times. That was a very putting-him-in-the-spot question. The only thing that made sense in his head was if he said yes, she would stay, and if no, she would leave. And he couldn't let her do that. So he knew the right answer.

"Yeah. Yeah. Nothing's going to change."

Tigress released the breath she had been holding. Po only recognised the fear on her face when it was being replaced with relief. She smiled brightly at him. It _was_ the right answer. Even if their relationship didn't change, Po would take any piece of her that she was willing to give him. He had to. And not only because he needed to save her from her curse.

"Heh heh... so... what now?" he asked, his nerves flaring back up.

He saw the grin return on Tigress' face. "Let's not make the same mistake as last time. We need to take off these clothes."

Po listened and decided it was gonna be hard to hear anything else she said over the pounding in his skull.

Tigress took in his petrified expression and smoothed the fur on his shoulders down. He was grateful, the gesture was nice and soothing. "I'll go first."

She pulled herself out of his arms and backed away. As she went, she tugged her sash off and tossed it to the side, where it floated gently to the floor. When the back of her legs hit the bed, she stopped, and the two of them stood still for a moment, anticipation sizzling in the air between them.

Then her fingers came to the hem of her skirt. She took the tiny string belt there and unravelled it nimbly. The thing cascaded to the floor.

Po gulped. Her old breeches and that skirt hid so much. These legs could propel Tigress thirty feet into the air, kick open bolted doors, and now, could make a panda's head spin. They were, she was, so perfect.

He watched her thumbs slip into her undergarments. Her very tight ones. Behind her, her tail flexed and looped itself out of them, and then she bent down and peeled them off.

She slowly straightened up and let him see her naked hips for the first time. Po didn't know what to do. He _wanted_ to fall to his knees and praise heaven for this moment, but Tigress would think he was joking, and nothing could be further from the truth.

He fell back on his well-used practice of gaping like a fish. Tigress smiled at his attention, pushed the mosquito net open behind her, and sat down on the duvet. She tucked her knees up, hiding herself from view, and Po could tell she was teasing him. "Your turn."

Po blinked a few times. She wasn't entirely naked yet, she hadn't taken off her blouse. But if she wanted him to strip now, that was more than fine. Tonight he planned to give her absolutely anything she wanted.

Okay, his time to shine. The room tilted a little as he swayed. It was _fine_. If Tigress could do this, so could he!

He squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and threw his new pants down in one fast swoop. Bam. There. He did it, and now he stood with his clothes circled around his feet and his eyes still squeezed shut. He put his paws on his hips, stuck his chin out and waited.

Tigress didn't speak, or gasp or whistle or anything, and Po's nerves rose to critical levels. He peeked one eye open to check on her. On her face was the biggest smile he had ever seen.

"T-Tigress...?"

She giggled. _Giggled!_ And it wasn't just a little giggle, Po could tell from her shaking shoulders, it was the kind where if she wasn't really really holding back she'd be screaming with laughter!

Oh no. He must have completely messed this up to make _her_ lose it, must have made a total fool of himself. He covered his mouth with both paws and turned away, so quickly that he tangled his feet in his pants and stumbled around to stop himself from falling over. _Why_ exactly did the impeccable Tigress want to sleep with a clumsy oaf like him?!

"No, Po, I'm sorry," she said as she fought against her laughter. "I, I wasn't laughing at, at your body." She wasn't? Wait, was something wrong with his body?! Nobody had seen his, his tenders since he was a baby. Oh no no no, what if this wasn't how they were supposed to be?!

Of all the ways he imagined this night going, and he hadn't imagined getting naughty with Tigress all that much—okay, so that was a lie, he _had_ —of all the ways, he didn't think too much on the totally-everything-goes-totally-wrong possibility. And maybe he should have. He groaned into his palms, praying that the floorboards would break under his feet so he could escape underground and start a new life as a mole.

Did they have moles in India?

Oh who cared! More important things to be worried about!

"Po, look at me." Tigress sounded like she'd taken control of herself, but he couldn't do as she said. If he did, he, the mighty Dragon Warrior, was probably going to cry like a baby.

Tigress didn't let his ignoring her slide. He heard her feet return to the floorboards and in a hot second her paws were on him, forcing him to turn around to her. She pried his own paws off his face and gave him a look full of remorse. "I am sorry. I give you my word, I wasn't laughing at your body."

"Th-then why...?" Po peeped out.

He saw Tigress' wide smile return. "You were just being... very cute. Adorable."

Oh. Okay, that didn't sound too bad. Except he didn't think adorableness had much of a part to play in this. Wasn't he supposed to be... hot? Sexy?

Maybe he should take what he could get.

She stroked one of his cheeks until he softened into a smile as well. Then she let her paws drop down to his, and stepped back to the bed, leading him along.

"Tigress—whoa—" She dragged him down onto the bed with her. Well, more onto her—she made for a soft landing. Po quickly pushed his weight off of her and chuckled nervously.

She crawled out from under him, to the centre of the bed. Without losing his gaze, she propped herself up on her palms and smiled at him through her spread legs.

Po wished he had a collar to adjust, he was burning up in his fur. He scampered over until his knees bumped against her rump, and then he froze up.

Tigress smiled at him and raised her paw up, offering. He took it like it was a lifeline and she twisted him until she could grip the back of his paw. She brought him to her knee and made him stroke down her thigh, disturbing all her downward-patterned fur.

When he met the turn of her hips, she let him go, and he felt like he'd been cast adrift. He gave her a look of helplessness.

"Touch me," Tigress ordered in a low, husky voice.

He took a deep breath and slowly raked his fingers through her fur, up to her navel and back down again. He didn't mean to catch her with his claws, but as they dragged across her skin, she shivered in pleasure, and Po made a point of remembering that.

He thought he knew soft, but the fur just below Tigress' abdomen was leagues away from everything else he had ever touched. Slightly wavy too, nothing like he expected. He kept going, down further, and met dampness.

Tigress sighed happily and angled her hips up so he could see more of her. Past the bright white fur, she was pink, and dewy, and delicious-looking. Po's nervousness was pushed down by excitement. He was much bolder when he ran his thumb down across his partner's flesh.

He felt her thighs twitch. Chasing that feeling, he repeated himself, moving his thumb softly and steadily over her. Tigress started panting. Thank heaven she didn't sound like this all the time, or there would never be any blood in the head on his shoulders.

He was growing hard, but he ignored himself until it bumped against Tigress' thigh. She looked down and her eyes widened.

"Po, you're _huge_!"

He moved his paw away with a blush. "I am...?! Is that good?" He checked her face carefully to see if she'd laugh again.

She didn't—Tigress pushed herself up until she was sitting, her thighs draped over Po's. Smiling, she said, "It is to me." She reached out for his length. "May I?"

Po nodded so fast, he bit his tongue. He was trying to deal with the pain of that when Tigress took hold of him, and between the two very opposite sensations, he couldn't stop himself from yelping.

"Hold it together," Tigress said with a smirk. "We've only just begun."

"Y-you're right." When wasn't she right? "I've just, uh, never done this before." Something close to shame filled him. Maybe he shouldn't have admitted that. Then again, if he really really screwed up tonight, at least he could blame it on inexperience?

His doubts were squeezed out of him. Literally, Tigress' grip on him suddenly tightened, and it was the perfect way of taking over his attention. He focused on Tigress, suddenly a little scared at what she could do to him.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek, stroking him decisively at the same time. It felt so good he almost completely missed her next words. "Neither have I."

He took the back of her neck in his paw to steady her. Then he pulled away so he could look at her in surprise. "For real?"

Tigress frowned and squeezed him again, and this time it felt like a warning. "Why the shock? What do you take me for?"

Why did he keep saying stupid things? When would he learn? "N-nothing!" he squealed. "Nothing, really! I'm sorry, I'm an idiot, I don't think you're... you just seem really confident?!"

Tigress' brow relaxed. She rewarded him for the save with another stroke. "It's a front, I'm nervous too. I've 'fooled around' as you call it, but that was a long time ago. And I never took it so far."

"...So you're...?"

"Yes, Po. In the way that matters, I'll be your first and you'll be mine." She gave him a squinty smile and her thumb swept over his head very cleverly.

Po made a sort-of giggling sound at the feeling, and he was about to say something sappy about the honour Tigress was giving him when he was struck by a thought.

He grabbed her wrist and forced her to stop working him. "Wait."

Tigress brought her brow together. "What's the matter, was I too rough?"

She couldn't be more wrong. Po's mouth trembled for a moment as he tried to find the right words in his scattered brain. "I shouldn't take your honour." Again—another stupid thing to say, he was never going to be cured of his foot-in-mouth disease. Why bring this up—he _had_ to take her honour. It was worth so much less than her life.

Tigress was frozen for a moment before all her feline pride covered her face. She took her paw back and swung her legs off Po's so she could kneel in front of him, and raise her head as high as his. "And why not?"

Po tried to make himself smaller, which was tough for a six-foot-two bear. He really wanted to take his words back, but the way Tigress was glaring at him told him she wouldn't accept that anytime soon. "M-my dad taught me t-this is supposed to be saved for when you get married? Because—nevermind, I shouldn't have—"

"'When'?" Tigress repeated. "Oh, I didn't know I was getting married, to whom?"

He was surprised by the sarcasm. Tigress was usually very direct with her anger. Yes, he had definitely screwed this up.

 _"I didn't mean to assume you would!"_ he shouted, all the words smushed together.

Tigress took hold of Po's shoulders to make sure he would look at her. He tensed, ready for her to headbutt him, throw him off the bed, or just straight up knee him in his even-more-sensitive-than-usual tenders. "Good, because I have no intention to. And since that's the case, no one need ever learn the state of my honour. It's _our_ business."

Po's racing thoughts were briefly stilled by the word choice. It was his business too? "Right. Yes, okay, except..."

"Except what?"

"What if I make you pregnant?"

Tigress did nothing for a long moment, dumbfounded. Then all tension left her body. She started laughing, and slumped forward to rest her forehead on Po's. "Need I remind you, you're a panda and I'm a tiger. That's impossible."

"Look, I've thrown live cannonballs and come back from the dead, impossible things happen with me all the time! I j-just mean 'what if', okay? We gotta be careful!"

Tigress' laughter faded away, but she didn't return to her anger. Instead her brow creased, as if she was feeling an ache. "Po... we don't have to do this if you don't wan—"

"NO! I mean—!" It wasn't true, he _did_ have to do this. But that didn't matter. "I do want to, I really do!" He'd have to be bananas to turn her down. "It's just, I want to protect you too."

Tigress looked at him thoughtfully. The seconds stretched out, giving Po time to ask himself why he was the most awkward person in history. Eventually she planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Okay. Wait here."

She let him go and crawled around him, her tail flicking against his chest as she went.

"T-Tigress?"

"Stay put." She pushed the mosquito net out of her way and stepped off the bed. Po watched her rear disappear past the bead curtains, and wondered how he was going to fit into India's mole society.

xxxxx

Po was definitely going to explode from worry. He'd heard Tigress leave the cabin—did she go out into the jungle to scream at the heavens over how frustrating he was?

She told him to wait, which had to mean she was planning on coming back. He obeyed her order for as long as he could bear, which felt like about thirty seconds, then went after her.

Outside and buck naked, what a degenerate he was. Though it was a little hard to see her in the dark, Tigress hadn't gone far. Po came to the end of the porch and saw her climb out of Sati's hot spring. A towel bundle floated up from the rocky edge and unfolded itself for her—she snatched it out of the air with a huff of distaste and began drying herself. Only her lower body was soaked, her covered chest and everything above were still dry.

"Tigress?"

She looked up at where Po was staring at her, fiddling with his claws. He tried to say more, but he couldn't tell if she was upset with him and he felt too wimpy to ask right now. Only Tigress could make rubbing the towel around her thighs while walking at the same time look graceful. When she was at Po's side, she dropped it and took his paw instead. They went back into the cabin.

"Tigress, why did you—?"

"It'll make sense." She took them into the kitchen and opened the trapdoor up again. From below, a lidded clay pot no bigger than one of their palms zoomed out and into her free paw, surprising both of them. Then Tigress scowled. "Don't read my mind," she told the pantry, and the trapdoor snapped shut rudely.

This moment was going to make the top-five list of most confusing moment's in Po's pretty confusing life. "Tigress—?!"

She whirled around on him, tugged him down so his face was against hers, and smashed a quick shut-up kiss on his mouth. "Everything's alright. Come on." She pushed him back into the bedroom and onto the bed, watching as he flailed himself through the net.

"O-okay, okay—" he said before Tigress scaled his belly, forcing him onto his back. Her legs were still slightly damp, tiny beads of water glistening in the candlelight and sinking into his fur. She placed the tiny pot on the sheets above their heads and looked down at Po, taking in his expression.

"It _is_ okay, you know," she said, her eyes soft. "Don't be scared." Her tail swept around behind her, swatting Po's hips, and his erection.

He flinched and Tigress gasped quietly. She drew her paw down over his belly and ran her fingers over him again. "You're still so ready?" she asked, sounding impressed.

It was true, he was fully hard. He smiled tightly at her, locked into embarrassed mode. "Heh... I... can't help it. Not with you."

A grin slowly formed on her face. She attacked his mouth with hers again, and didn't back off at all, even at the point when they'd naturally break away for air. Po's vision turned blurry. He groaned in protest, wondering if Tigress was trying to smother him to death in revenge for his awkwardness, and whether or not that was a pretty great way to go, all things considered.

When a warning gong went off in his oxygen-starved head, he wrapped his arms around Tigress' waist and rolled her over until he had her trapped under him. He reeled back and they both gasped for breath.

Staring down at Tigress, he saw something new and unexpected on her face—it was kind of like triumph. She drew her legs up, out from under his own, and wrapped them around his hips. That was a very _very_ nice feeling, the pressure on his skin, the warmth of her damp thighs.

Tigress tilted her head back, looking up for her pot, and Po pounced on her exposed neck. He nipped at her, trying to be careful with his teeth, not at all sure if he was succeeding, but from the moan he felt buzz against his lips, Tigress didn't mind. She butted him away with her cheek so they could face each other.

"You want me," she murmured, "but you don't want to break my honour. And you don't have to. There's another way."

Her paw was outstretched and Po dropped his own in it. Tigress guided him down between their bodies, this time not to where he was expecting. She brushed him down over her mound very fleetingly, and pressed one of his finger pads to her tailhole.

Po's jaw fell open so fast he felt the sides of his lips split. He thought having her in the usual way was a forbidden fruit. That made this the forbidden orchard.

"What do you think?" Tigress asked softly.

What did he _think_? He couldn't think. Now that the idea was in his head, he was sprinting away with it. Doing that, with her, on someone else's bed.

It sounded thrilling. But...

"Po?"

He resisted the impulse to smack himself and focused on her. She was trying to hide that she was biting her lip, and it finally hit Po that she meant it, when she said she was nervous too. He squeezed her paw.

"I'm a little worried," he admitted. "Won't I hurt you?"

Tigress smiled. "That's what this is for." She picked up her little pot and held it out for him. Po took his paw back and sat up before he accepted it.

"What is it?"

"See for yourself."

He plucked the tiny lid off. His eyes didn't really give him an answer, it was just a kind of clear jelly. Tigress pushed herself up on one elbow, scooped some out with her thumb and smoothed it over her fingers. Po was busy trying to figure out what that could possibly be for when her paw disappeared under his belly.

"Eeyow- _whey-hey! That's cold!"_

"Sorry," Tigress said with a touch of amusement. She coated his length with the jelly, being a little more thorough than she needed to be—Po figured that was more for his benefit than hers. He definitely appreciated it.

When Tigress looked satisfied she'd done a good job, she let her elbow slide and lay back, fully splayed out for him. Her legs tightened around his hips and she gazed up at him, the intensity in her eyes making him shudder.

"Come closer," she ordered. Po bent down until he could feel her cool breath on his face, and clutched the sheets on either side of her. "Still want to do this?"

So this was the moment. And he didn't want anything else. He didn't stammer when he said, "Heh. Bring it on."

Tigress beamed.

Her paw returned to his length for the last time tonight, guiding it to her tailhole. He could feel the warm pressure of her muscles against his tip, and he was pretty sure his claws just tore through the bedsheets. He looked at Tigress, she nodded, and he rolled his hips forward.

They gasped together, and Po's eyes squeezed shut. This was so different to her paw, so different to _anything_ in the world. She was so hot, tight and soft all at once, and there wasn't even a little rest from the feelings once they began. He sank his head in and had to pause, already overwhelmed.

He wasn't the only one. Both of Tigress' paws flew up and around Po's back. She dug her claws in with a soft hiss. "Ah..."

Po forced his eyes open and saw her gritted teeth. "I _am_ h-hurting you," he said, his conscience stinging.

"It's okay," she groaned. She took a couple of steadying breaths. "Keep going, I can handle it."

"Tigress—"

"Trust me."

Po swallowed his guilt and eased himself further into her, moving as slowly as he could. Tigress tried her hardest to not tense up, he could tell. A few times, he was too much for her and all her muscles briefly clenched around him, making white spots appear in his vision. They both sighed in relief when his hips met her ass.

"Ahh. You're so _big_."

Po's pulse throbbed at the compliment. He never thought he'd hear words like that, directed at him, and spoken so boldly. Tigress really didn't have anything to hide from him now. The thought of what they were sharing filled him not only with pleasure but with real joy. "And you're so tight," he breathed, hoping his words were just as flattering.

She was full of him. She gazed up, her claws still digging in, though they didn't stop pleasure from thrumming through his veins. Po wasn't surprised when his internal freakout started. He, _him_ , he was actually right now having (slightly unconventional) sex with _the_ Master Tigress. And it felt _awesome_.

For him at least. Though his arms were shaking, he shifted his weight onto one so he could stroke the side of Tigress' face with his knuckles.

Her eyes dilated and she retracted her claws. "I'm okay. Better than okay." Her smile came back. "You should start moving, or we won't get anywhere."

"Oh." Po's face was already so heated, his blush probably didn't show up. "Yeah, I gotcha." He rolled his hips experimentally, checking Tigress' face for discomfort. He felt her stomach twitch sharply against his. Her brow creased and she groaned again.

The sound had more to it than pain. He almost unsheathed himself and tried some shallow thrusts, wondering the whole time if he was doing this right. For a few heavy breaths, Tigress looked up into his eyes, letting him hear without any words how much she was enjoying the ride. It helped his nerves, just a little. Then she drew her paw under his jaw and pressed her fingers into it, feeling how tense it was.

"Po, relax. I'm not the only one on this bed." She stroked his jawline with her thumb. "You should be enjoying yourself too."

He was, and he was enjoying her as well, but he couldn't stop an echo of guilt from bouncing around in the back of his mind. Why did this have to hurt her, even a little?

She leaned her head up off the bed and brought their muzzles together as if she could kiss all his uncertainty away. It helped, it really did. He was more confident in this next thrust, pressing deeper into her. Her breath hitched, her lips going slack against his, and he took the chance to dart his tongue into her mouth.

"Mn..." Tigress nipped him sharply, making him jolt. Her lips curled on his own and he pulled up to check her over. The pain was long gone from her face, now there was a healthy dose of mischief.

"Hey, that was mean," he murmured.

"Will you let me get away with it?" she asked, her fangs flashing.

Po narrowed his eyes in fake indignation, and thrust as hard as he thought Tigress could bear. She gasped harshly and threw her head back onto the bed, not losing her smile for a second.

"Yes... yes, just like that..." she moaned. The sight and sound of her in such a wave of pleasure was good payback. Po couldn't stop himself from moaning too, and he forced his elbows to lock straight before he collapsed under the force of his own pleasure.

Tigress let her arms drop away from him and land around her head. She left herself open and defenceless, something he couldn't ignore. He shifted his weight back, his focus on keeping Tigress' hips on his lap and his thrusts steady. His paws jumped on her midriff, his claws tracing her ribs.

Po heard another "Yes..." and replied with a low cry. His fingers came to the borders of her fur, where it changed from white to orange, and slowly followed them down. She mewled under the attention, the sound making a shiver roll down his spine.

He wanted to keep doing this all night. There was so much of her to explore, screw sleep. But a familiar pooling in his gut told him that it didn't matter what he wanted. He and his inexperience could only take so much of being so close to Tigress. He dragged his paws down to her hips and grasped her tightly, keeping her right where he needed her.

He let his thrusts turn even deeper, and felt Tigress's legs tremble and shift over his thighs. Even now she was still so tight and soft, so ready to accept all of him. He let a long, breathy growl pour out of his mouth as he climaxed, the muscles in his lower body going haywire, his length pulsating and emptying his load inside of Tigress.

She mewled and wriggled at the feeling. Po kept his grip on her, making sure she couldn't slip off him just yet as the last pangs of pleasure hit him. He gradually came to a stop, fully buried in her, and panted to catch his breath. In his head he replayed these last perfect moments, what it felt like to come with Tigress. It must be such a strange feeling for her, to have his seed in her. He looked down into her face to see that it was still flushed with arousal. Her breaths were quick and shallow—he was satisfied and she was still wound up.

Guilt suddenly crushed all of his pleasure. "You... didn't come." Wasn't it supposed to be ladies first? That was so rude of him!

Tigress' head lolled from side to side on the bedsheets. "It's okay," she murmured.

"No it isn't!" Po let go of her hips as if it was criminal to have his paws on her now. He looked down worriedly, he had no idea what to do to remedy this situation. "How can I... did I ruin it for you?"

"No, definitely not," Tigress said with a breathy chuckle. She took one of his paws and brought it back to just above the spot where they were still joined together. "This is how you can finish me off."

She pressed him against her mound and Po brushed over a tiny little bump with his thumb. Tigress immediately jumped, a shaky sigh escaping her lips. Po nodded in understanding and began to gently massage her.

Her reactions were beautiful, even better than the way she moved and gasped and moaned before. Tigress rolled her hips up to meet his thumb, shifting his softening length inside her and making Po shudder from overstimulation. As she kept going, the feeling came close to painful, but he endured it. It was the least he could do for her, and besides, it wasn't really a bad feeling, as long as he didn't mind his whole body twitching like crazy.

He watched Tigress's mouth. It moved like she was trying to form words, but blissful cries were the only thing that came out. He was curious if she could speak at all right now. He decided to test her. "Tigress?"

"Uh... huh?"

"This is... this is what you were doing to yourself, right? That time I caught you..."

Her mouth snapped shut in embarrassment, though it didn't silence her moans. She turned her face away from him, suddenly looking shy, and after how bold she was before, Po couldn't help thinking it was the most endearing thing he'd ever seen her do. He stroked one of her knees and smiled brightly, knowing she could see his face out of the corner of her eyes.

It didn't take much longer to bring her to her own climax. Her legs tightened around him, her inner walls spasmed and her back curled up off the bed. She lunged out and grabbed his free arm, Po guessed because she wanted to touch a little more of him. He let her hold him, and enjoyed the show.

After her cries hit a crescendo, they turned into soft giggles. Her body fell limply into the bedsheets, and she looked at him again.

Po looked back keenly, resting his paws on both of her knees. "Was that good?"

"It was _very_ good. I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"Avocados, they _are_ an aphrodisiac." Po wasn't sure, but he thought Tigress might've just winked at him, as weird as that would be. "That's for your future reference."

"Oh, cool." A blush returned to his face. "Um... thank you for this."

Tigress laughed. "You don't have to thank me!" His blush grew further across his face. Well, live and learn. And he learned a lot. All in all, he was feeling pretty proud of himself right now.

"Po?" Tigress murmured.

"Yeah?"

"You can pull out now."

"Oh! Sorry!" He did so, as carefully as he could, and they both shuddered from the movement. Po settled down next to Tigress, and she rolled over to face him. She gave him a lovely smile before it fell away and her eyes turned vacant.

"Tigress? You okay?"

Instead of answering him, she passed out. Her eyelids dropped and her face slumped into the sheets.

"Tigress?!" He grabbed her shoulder to shake it. On contact, familiar red light hit his eyes. For a few seconds it beamed out of her stomach, then faded away. She was left breathing softly.

It was alarming but he guessed this was how the jing thing had to work. Po wondered what to do now. Would it be okay if he cuddled her? He'd ask but, well...

She'd probably be fine with it. He hoped so at least, as he brought his arms around her. Her tail perked up, looping itself around one of his legs. That counted as an invitation in his book.

He never slept beside anyone before. Not even his adoptive dad after a childhood nightmare, he was always too big, he couldn't risk accidentally crushing the poor goose. This was nice, even in the hot night. Po's new bed buddy was very comfortable.

A sleepy smile came over his face. He nuzzled Tigress' cheek with his own. "The warlock guy ain't got nothing on me. You're gonna be safe and sound."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: kekekekekekekekekekeke they did the butt stuff XDDDDD
> 
> I promise, I'm actually a mature adult. I mean I'm an adult at least XD


	10. "Are you happy?"

Dreams never seemed to have a real beginning, did they. Po didn't know, he couldn't see what happened to bring him to this point, but he was in the water, soaked to the bone and tossed around by the waves.

If he didn't drown, he might choke on the sea foam. He tilted his head back, as far as he could, and gazed up at the storm clouds. He tried to find something, anything to orient himself. The clouds pressed in on his eyes, and he was sure, any second now they'd smother him.

Jing streamed out from under the water, blinking like a distress signal. He couldn't ignore it when it was coming from her. Po enjoyed one last painful gulp of air before he forced his head under.

He was an okay swimmer, but an awful diver—his belly floated too well. It came in handy many times, this not being one of them. Slow going... not that he was going to give up.

His eyes burned from the salt but he forced them to stay open, tracking the sinking light of his friend. He went after her, fighting every inch of the way down. His ears soon popped and he went completely deaf—the waves were gone, even his own heartbeat was gone.

At least Tigress wasn't. By the time he made it to her, his lungs were screaming, crushed by the whole ocean above them. He reached out and grabbed her paw. She looked into his eyes, her own washed out by the jing glowing between them.

Po couldn't hold his breath any longer—his mouth burst open and his precious air flew high. Tigress' face screwed up, and Po thought he could've seen her tears if the sea didn't immediately sweep them away. Her own lips parted but her breath didn't come out, it was already long gone. She mouthed, _You idiot_ , her claws stabbing his wrist. Po knew why. She was out of time. She was never getting back to the surface, and the only thing he accomplished was the last thing she'd ever ask for.

Well... at least they were drowning together. As Po's limbs started shaking and his throat convulsed, he tugged Tigress close and let their foreheads press together. He wanted to try and say something—what, he didn't know. Maybe thank you, maybe goodbye. More than that, he wanted to hear Tigress' voice one last time before he died.

But he didn't. He did hear someone else's.

A stranger's, the bodiless voice of a young lady. She sounded like the rushing wind as she spoke in his head, words he didn't recognise. Even if he did, he couldn't have focused on them. Not while the glow of Tigress' stomach was fading away.

He could guess what the voice was saying. _She's dying in your arms. How could this happen on your watch_ _. You let her down._

Po hugged Tigress so tightly, he might actually crush her before she drowned.

The last thing the stranger said, he recognised—it was his name.

xxxxx

"Po?" Tigress called softly.

He blinked his eyes open to find her kneeling over him in the dark, frowning her common what-trouble-has-the-Dragon-Warrior-found-himself-in-now frown.

"Ah... good morning." Po forced himself to smile, hoping it looked at least a little natural. The once-comfortable sheets on his back were now cold and wet from his sweat. He hefted himself off them and sat beside Tigress. "How was your sleep?"

"Much better than yours, I'd wager. You had another vision."

" _Nightmare_ ," Po insisted. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes, a little more vigorously than he had to. "Just a nightmare."

Tigress' expression didn't let up. "Whatever you say. But I couldn't wake you from it."

"Sorry. Must've been sleeping deep. Heh."

She watched him stretch his arms. "Are you going to tell me what you saw?"

"Nope." Po silently chastised himself, that came about a little sharp. "Sorry... it, uh, it was still just a kind of general feeling. Nothing solid to it." The whole thing was solid as a rock in his memory. He remembered searching desperately for anything that could help him up above. It was annoying that the moon had been hidden. If he could see its phase, that would tell him when he could expect this not-vision to not happen.

From what he could tell looking out the window, there wasn't a gross cloud in sight. The sky was mostly black, the first touches of dawn over the sea. All the candles were out, so the only sources of light in the room were Tigress' eyes.

Po smiled again as he took them in, genuine this time. His face warmed as he noticed that they were both still lacking in the clothes side of things. He felt shy for himself, but couldn't take his eyes away from Tigress—her fur was ruffled and peppered with black and white strands of his own. He couldn't say why the sight felt so satisfying.

He could share what was at the forefront of his mind though. "You look really lovely this morning."

His words were a surprise—her face turned blank. The old trusty nerves shot back up. "I mean, you always look lovely but, uh, right now specifically, I thought with the—nevermind." Po could use a guide on how to compliment a girl without stammering like a moron. He wondered if the Triskele had any advice... of course even if it did, he wouldn't be able to read it. Well, he did get this far by intuition (and Tigress' patience). Just a few hours ago, he bedded a beautiful cat—check this stud out.

Tigress abruptly rolled away from him and off the bed. With her back to him she said, "We'll be meeting with the other masters soon, we should freshen up." Po watched her tail sway as she strode to the doorway, picking up their clothes as she went. She paused at the curtains and turned back to him, to give him a beckoning jerk of her head. Then she disappeared past the beads.

Po scratched the back of his paw in worry. Had he done something to upset her? Jeez, she used to be so easy to read but lately he'd have better luck reading his kinky scroll. He glanced at the chest it was hiding behind. Its existence still defied belief, like it was the product of a fever dream.

Suddenly everything about the previous night felt unreal. Tigress' command, that he ignore his feelings, flooded his mind. She said it like it was something easy, like he could do it just like _that_ if he wanted to.

Why would she think... was it easy for her? The way she touched him and talked to him last night... she was either a great actor or a ginormous hypocrite. Was he really supposed to believe now that there was nothing between them?

He shook the thoughts away—it wasn't good to start the day second-guessing himself about everything. As he dragged himself out of bed, he assured himself that this was still his first ever morning after.

These memories weren't leaving him anytime soon. He wouldn't ruin them with doubts.

xxxxx

The darkness was so pleasantly warm, like a blanket, that Po couldn't feel bad about being naked outside anymore. He didn't see where Tigress had run off to, but she wouldn't have gone far so he went to wait at the spot she dumped their clothes, next to the hot spring. It looked pretty dead at first, but as he approached it, the water started to bubble and breathe out a haze of steam.

He grinned—it would be easy to get used to all this high-class spa treatment Sati's home was giving them. Shifu would tut at the sight of it all, he'd say something like this stuff doesn't encourage an honest, hardworking attitude. And he'd be right. Oh well, Po would enjoy it while it lasted.

He perched himself on the spring's rock edge and dipped his feet in with a sigh. This was the life. The only thing that could make this better was if Tigress was here and enjoying it as much as he was.

He squashed down the little ball of anxiety forming in his chest as he waited. His brain made the wait seem so long—Tigress only left him for a minute or two. She reappeared from behind the cabin, holding an egg-shaped fruit bigger than her head under one arm, and a pail of water in the other. She had to fight while she walked to keep hold of them—the cabin's magic kept trying to take them off her paws. By the time she was at Po's side, she was scowling at the effort.

"Why don't you let the place help you a little?" Po asked, being careful with his tone. "Maybe magic's not all bad."

Tigress ignored what he said, put the fruit down on the rock and handed him the pail. Before he could ask, she said, "Drinking water, I heard a river a little way into the treeline. I already took some, it's safe."

Po didn't think she'd give him anything that wasn't. He appreciated the words all the same. She was often so cute about things, without even meaning to be. He smiled at her in thanks and took a sip before he put the pail down on the rock.

She slipped into the spring and barely made a splash. The water came to the bottom of her ribs at this spot—there was a deeper part that would come to Sati's neck, but this end suited them fine. She looked at him expectantly, which surprised Po.

"You don't mind if we bathe together?"

Tigress raised her brow at him. "You thought I would, after we actually slept naked beside each other?"

Po stopped himself from smiling and dropped in too. The word 'cannonball' came to mind.

Tigress leaned back so the splash missed her face. She couldn't avoid it hitting the rest of her though, and winced.

"Ah... sorry," Po said.

"No, it's not that," she told him, still wincing a little. She bent over slightly to stretch her back, and a tiny sound of pain left her throat.

Po realised what was bothering her. "I _did_ hurt you last night."

"Not that much."

"Tigress!" He hoped his disapproval came through strong. It wasn't often he scolded her, mostly it happened the other way round because he had many bad habits, but the only one he thought she had was downplaying her injuries. He didn't know if it was pride, not wanting to worry her friends, or a mix of the two. "You should've told me earlier, I would've healed you." He raised his paws to her and she stepped back.

"Don't," she said. When Po cupped his paws in themselves, she grabbed him by his wrists. "I'm serious. I don't want you to do that."

"Why not?"

Tigress' eyes softened. "It's only a little ache. It won't bother me once I'm used to it."

Po raised his brow. "You want to get used to it?"

She grinned at him, her fangs gleaming in the early light. His mind went blank for a moment. "Why wouldn't I? After the discomfort, it's a nice reminder."

Po's eyes widened. "It is?" Last night was so good that she wanted to be reminded of it? She nodded, and pride swelled in his chest.

"Oh, heh... good! I mean, well, yeah that's a silver lining but I still should've been more gentle with you. I'm—"

"If the next word out of your mouth is 'sorry', I will dunk you."

He shut up. Tigress waded to him, stood up on her toes and kissed his forehead. "You were wonderful. Stop worrying, it isn't like you."

Po tried to say something affirmative, but as he looked down at Tigress' very close body, his thoughts derailed. Her blouse was soaked through, and clinging tightly to her form. He could follow the faint curves of her chest. A sight that shouldn't have been so overwhelming, except Tigress' bindings always hid her figure so well, it was like she didn't have a chest before.

And he definitely never saw that she had nipples before. His throat went so dry it hurt.

Tigress noticed where he was eying. A smile crept over her red cheeks. She slowly backed away from him, and turned so he could see the curve of her back, a sight just as gorgeous in its own way.

She moved to the rock edge and leaned right over it, lifting her tail above the water to balance herself. Neither the steam or the water hid how naked she was, and Po hoped he wasn't about to faint and drown in a damn bathing pool.

"Ah—Tigress...?" He wasn't complaining about the view, it just took him off guard.

She reached out into a hole in the rocks. Before she could pick anything up, a couple of loofahs soared out. With her reflexes she easily caught them out of the air. She turned back to him and handed him one.

"Right... cool, thanks." Po started washing his face first, hoping he could scrub his blush off. He could tell she was looking at him so he avoided turning his eyes to her direction. After a while of silent bathing, he heard a frustrated groan.

At this point, the sound was hot-keyed to his attention. When he looked back at Tigress, she was trying to bat off half a dozen washcloths on different parts of her body.

"Leave me alone," she snapped. They didn't obey, and for good measure, one scooped up some water to drop it on Tigress' head. It was lucky to avoid getting ribboned by her claws.

Po pushed through the water to help. "Hey guys, would you take it easy please?" They honoured his polite request and left to fold and stack themselves on the rock edge. He shrugged at Tigress and she sighed. She started washing herself again, pouring water over her arms.

He watched her, transfixed by how she could make such a mundane act look so graceful. After a while she paused and looked at him questioningly.

"Uh—" An apology for his gawping tried to come out. Instead he said, "N-need some help?" She didn't, she was flexible enough to tap her head with her feet from over her back. Bathing was no issue for her. "I mean—want some? Help? I could..." Wow, his night of becoming a grown panda did his confidence so much good, he was getting so smooth. A nervous chuckle came out as he wondered why he was still so useless with his words.

Tigress looked surprised, as he expected her to, but it wasn't long before the corners of her mouth twitched. "Very well."

She turned and offered him her back. Po swallowed his shyness—this was his idea after all—and moved closer, softly touching her lower back with just his empty palm first. She straightened up and her fur splayed out like an opening flower bud. Po froze, but Tigress didn't tell him he'd done anything wrong, so he brought his other paw to her.

His first priority was to be careful, so he barely brushed at her, just in case the rough sponge scratched her skin—something Tigress noticed immediately. She looked over her shoulder. "Do you think after last night I suddenly became a fragile doll?"

Po took his paws back and picked at the loofah, scared that he'd offended her. "No, 'course not."

"Right," Tigress said. She faced forward again. "I'm very tough, you know."

Her teasing tone made him smile. "You are." He knew first-hand, they'd sparred enough times. He brought his paws back to her, determined not to be silly again, or at least to try not to be.

Po kneaded the loofah into her muscles and earned an approving hum. He let himself relish the moment—he'd always admired her body, and why wouldn't he? Lean, toned, strong... for the longest time, he considered her the pinnacle of kung fu. Years back, when he didn't like himself or appreciate his pandaness, he sometimes wished he'd been born a feline like her.

He knew now he was wrong to think that. Besides, it turned out he didn't even have to be a feline to seduce one!

In fairness, Tigress did more of the seducing. And she was doing it again now. She moaned breathily from his touch, the sound making his paws tremble.

"Tigress..." Po complained. She moaned again, which was just mean. Well, he could play the same game. He let his paws travel further down, his thumb following the ridges of her spine, until he met her pert ass. Her tail whipped his belly in reflex.

He squeezed one of her cheeks and she yelped. She glanced over her shoulder again, biting her lips together for a moment.

"Sorry," she said, "I was being childish." Her sounds were very the _opposite_ of childish, but he'd accept the apology.

Tigress slid away (disappointing), to the rock edge. She neatly hoisted herself up and turned around so she could sit on the ledge in front of him.

She was much more reserved now. "We should leave soon." Her legs drew up out of the water.

Po shot forward, grabbed her knees and gently pushed her calves back into the spring. She gazed down at him with curiosity.

He didn't want this moment to end just yet. Keeping his paws on her, he said, "It's still early, yeah? The sun isn't up yet, there's no rush."

Tigress glanced at the horizon before looking back at him. "I suppose not. But it's good to be ready." She tested his grip, pushing her legs up against him, but didn't fight when he wouldn't budge. "Po, come on."

"Don't go yet."

Tigress leaned forward, looking down on him for an explanation.

Po moved closer to her, pushing her knees apart so he could slip in between them. Her wet fur clung to him. He shifted his fingers until he could feel her skin against his fingertips, with nothing in between.

She tensed up, and he realised he needed to say something that would keep her here. It felt like an important moment that he couldn't let go, not just because of last night, though it was mostly about that.

He didn't know if it was enough. Sati told him not to overdo the whole jing changing thing, but how could he know how much he'd given? He needed to ask the witch that later. For now, though, he suspected just one night of passion wouldn't match a third of Tigress' remaining life.

He looked down at his paws, since that was the safest place to rest his eyes. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she said. Her paws came to lay on his and he lost both the ability or desire to look at anything but her.

"Last night was, ah..." There had to be a way of describing it without sounding cheesy as heck. "Super awesome." Well that sure wasn't it but at least Tigress looked amused rather than offended. "Can we keep doing stuff like that together?"

Affection briefly covered her amusement. "Did you have something specific in mind?"

The scroll very kindly offered itself up in his head. Hoping Tigress wasn't suddenly telepathic, he browsed the catalogue in his memories. One thing had immediately jumped out at him as exciting, he just didn't want to admit that to himself before this moment.

"...Yeah." His paws climbed her thighs and her hips until they were on her waist. He kept their gazes locked, and didn't have the energy to keep his thoughts off his face anymore.

Tigress' mouth fell open at his expression. "You mean now? We don't have time, Lion could arrive at any moment."

Po checked her eyes carefully—they dilated at his attention until they were the size of plates. That worry was the only thing stopping her from immediately saying yes. He squeezed her sides and grinned.

"Well, you keep watch then. I'll take care of everything else."

"Po—"

He lunged forward and pressed his lips to her stomach. She jumped from surprise—her paws grabbed the sides of his head on reflex but she didn't push him back.

"Po..." she scolded. "You're inexperienced, so I will excuse you this time. But in the future, know that you _cannot_ rush a lady, it simply doesn't work."

"Not trying to rush you," Po said into her fur. Her stomach fluttered as his voice tickled it. "It's just, no matter how little time we might have, every second counts."

"Why?"

Pain shot through his heart, taking over his expression for a split second. He hoped she didn't notice, because he had no way of explaining it.

She didn't seem to. He stroked at the fur on her sides and said, "'Cause... y'know. The spirit of kung fu is living in the moment."

He looked up, keeping his lips on her. Tigress didn't make him wait long before her face softened.

"Alright. Do as you please with me."

That was maybe the best combination of words ever. "Well, the plan is that I won't be the only one who's pleased." A grin covered Po's face and Tigress matched it. "At least, if I can do this right. Heh."

"I have every faith in you," Tigress said. She bit her lip and watched him intently.

Po let his eyes fall across her lips, her neck, her chest and her stomach. It was very weird to see her from this angle and proximity. A good weird though.

He followed the grain of her fur down, keeping so close that his jaw brushed against her thighs. He burrowed his face between them, and Tigress' breath hitched. Her paws fell off his head and she leaned back on them. She was suddenly so much more exposed.

Nerves stopped him from immediately kissing her the way he wanted to. His eyes returned to her face, expecting to see annoyance because of the delay. But there was nothing like that—instead her little ears lay flat on her head, and her mouth hung open as if she was desperate to say something but couldn't find the words.

She looked desperate in general.

A cheeky smile broke out on Po's face—he wasn't nervous anymore. He slipped an arm around her lower back and tugged her forward, forcing her to sit right on the rock's edge.

Tigress made a tiny sound of protest. Her knees shot up so she could keep her balance and Po quickly hooked his paws under them. He now had the perfect hold on her.

They didn't have all day. He checked Tigress' face one last time, and when he saw no second thoughts, he closed his eyes and dived onto her.

"Ahh! _Po!"_

That sounded like a great start. He gave one long lick up her mound, feeling how hot her skin was on his tongue. It felt so delicate too—Tigress might not be fragile in general, but every fighter had at least one weak spot.

Po had found hers for sure. His tongue ran over the little bean he made friends with last night, and her knees shook in his grip. When he hit the edge of her fur, he ran the back of his tongue down her.

It worked just as well as the first lick—he heard Tigress' claws scrape the rock under them. He wondered if her paws were still on his head that she'd give his skin the same treatment, and the idea was weirdly thrilling.

After a few more long and thorough licks, Po realised that while Tigress sounded like she was quickly losing her head, his own was very clear. Not because he wasn't enjoying this, he was enjoying every second of it, but things were very different now he wasn't distracted by his own pleasure. It was satisfying in its own way, being the cool-headed one for once.

He should put all this thinking space to good use. His paws adjusted Tigress' legs, moving them higher and holding them tighter just in case his tongue pressed against a very tender spot on her and she tried to kick him on reflex.

Then he started experimenting with her. He tried moving faster, moving slower, getting closer and letting his muzzle fur tickle her, using the tip of his tongue to press into her, teasingly, instead of just over her. She gave easily under him, and she cried the loudest when he did that, Po was pretty sure she liked that the most.

And her flesh turned wetter with everything he did.

"Po... _Po..."_

He wasn't going to get bored of that, the way she said his name, not anytime soon. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that when she pushed him off her by his forehead, he didn't immediately realise.

"You stopped me?" That came out sounding a little silly on account of his tongue still hanging out. He drew it back. "I thought that was good for you."

He waited patiently while Tigress caught her breath, and she said, "It is, you are shockingly talented."

"Heh, must be because of all my noodle slurping. Good, uh, training." Oh dear... on his list of achievements, he should probably add Speaker of the Least Sexy Sentence in History.

Tigress giggled musically. He wondered if there was anything he could say that would actually offend her, and hoped if there was, it never passed his lips. "Must be," she said.

Po smiled widely and tried to move back onto her, but she stopped him.

"You're being very gracious to me, truly. But it isn't fair that you're stuck down there without me giving you the same kind of service."

Her words lit him up—his sweating definitely wasn't coming from the hot water anymore, he could tell. Tigress, looking up at him from between his knees? How beautiful would that be? But he shook his head.

"I don't want you to," Po said, still smiling. "This time I only want this to be about you, I wanna make you happy."

Both of her paws came to his cheeks and softly pinched them before trailing down his face and chest. "You being happy will make me happy."

She hooked her arms under Po's own and quickly lifted him up out of the water. Ignoring his "whoa!", she let herself fall on her back as she hugged him close to her chest. They accidentally knocked over the drinking pail and the water spilled all over the rock. Tigress didn't seem to care, so Po let it roll away. His attention was taken anyway.

Her move gave him so much delightful friction against her body. He giggled as Tigress' fingers danced over his ribs, and looked down at her with his eyes shining.

"Well I'm super happy right now. But it's like you said, we don't have a whole lotta time." At least not for going all the way, he'd hate to rush that, especially if she was already sore. Tigress pursed her lips as she thought that through. She absentmindedly brushed his side with her knee, until her eyes lit up.

"True. I know what I want you to do."

Po watched as her lips curled in mischief. He licked his own and noticed he could taste her right now. She was so unique, sweet but not like any kind of food he'd ever had, and he'd tried a lot of food in his time.

"Ah... and what's that?" he asked.

"Play with yourself."

Po's fur stood on end. Less because of what she actually said than how she said it, in an authoritative growl. "...Y-you want to watch that?"

"I very much want to."

Oh boy. He didn't know why, of all the things they could get up to, this idea was making him so nervous. He drew himself up on his knees, a little upset for every inch of skin contact that they lost. From where she lay, she looked him up and down. Though her expression was appreciative, he still felt self-conscious.

"Don't be nervous," Tigress said softly. "I'm sure you're already very familiar with yourself."

Po scratched at the back of his neck. "Actually, I wouldn't say 'very'." The last time he'd messed around with himself was years ago. He tried, but it was hard to do it back when he was convinced he was unattractive, and after that he just never had the desire to try again.

Tigress' eyebrows shot up. "But you're male. I was under the impression that males do it all the time."

Po shrugged, smiling to try and hide his thoughts. "What, I didn't already prove how male I am last night?"

Did he really just say that out loud? The heat on his face was telling him yes. Tigress' face turned pink too, so thankfully he wasn't alone. He carried on, "But I, yeah, I don't do it all that often."

Tigress wiped the surprise off her face and sat up. "Well, now is your chance to learn more about yourself."

She took the back of his paw again, guiding him like before. Po wondered when he'd be experienced enough that she didn't have to carry him through everything. She laced her fingers between his own and brought his paw down to his length. His paw was warm, hers was cool and felt way better.

"There, now wrap your fingers around your dick."

Po made a few spluttering giggles and gaped at her.

"What?" she asked.

_"Don't call it that!"_

Tigress' eyes widened at his tone of voice. "Why not?"

"It's rude!"

She let his... him go and stared in bemusement. "What else am I supposed to call it?"

"Everything down there is my tenders, of course! Weren't you taught that?"

She looked at him with her mouth wide open for a few seconds. "Do you have the mental age of a five-year-old? You're mature enough to actually have sex but not to say the word 'dick'?"

Po squirmed where he was kneeling. "Tigress, cut it out."

"No, you're being silly." She drew herself up so she was pressed against Po's side. Her face came so close to his that he had to cross his eyes a little to keep her in focus. "Listen. Say the word 'dick'. Right now, say it."

"No!"

_"Po!"_

_"Fine!"_ Po looked down at his belly and scrunched up his nose, hoping that it didn't make him look too immature. He took a breath and said, "D-d-dick. There. Are you happy?"

Tigress seemed to have a near-flawless hold on her self-control this morning because she didn't explode into giggles yet. "Not like that, say it properly—"

"DICK," Po yelled, and could've sworn his voice echoed in the nearby jungle. "Alright, great exercise! Don't make me say it again!"

Tigress bit down on her lips, and for a second didn't do anything else but try and keep a hold on her composure. "You are utterly... cute."

Po grunted in annoyance as his cheeks grew warm again. "Sure, of course I am. Can we move on now?"

"In a moment," Tigress said, her voice strained from holding in her laughter. "Just do one more thing for me. Say the word 'pussy'."

Po made a loud croaking sound, grabbed her free paw and looked into her eyes imploringly. "I _can't_ , I'm totally serious this time, I _can't_ say that."

"Given that we're going to fool around together, I'm not going to put up with you saying something like 'mm, your tenders are so tight' in my ear."

 _"I wouldn't say_ _ **anything**_ _like that!_ I mean, I know I kind of did last night b-but it wasn't like _that_! I can't say... the 'p' word, it's impolite—let me call it something else."

Tigress' eyebrows were in danger of disappearing over her head, they were raised so high. "What on earth could you have in mind?"

"Well... how about 'kitty', it doesn't sound as—"

"You are _not_ calling it that!" Tigress shrieked. She moved to kneel further behind Po, hiding her body from him.

They stared at each other, both incredulous, until an evil grin came over Po's face. "Looks like the pot is on the other kettle!" He looped an arm around her waist and dragged her to his chest, ignoring her attempts to slip away.

Tigress scowled, her face still as red as the dawn sky. "Let's move on—I still want what I asked you for. Hurry before the sun comes up."

Po couldn't help but press his advantage. "Getting a little twitchy there, Tigress ol' buddy?" He squeezed her and she proved his observation right by shuddering in his arms.

He should've known that she wouldn't let that slide. Her lips drew up on her teeth, and a second later she'd kneed him in the underside of his belly. It wasn't a very strong move at all, for her, but it still forced Po to keel over on top of her. And then she locked her elbow around his neck, keeping his head by hers. Thank heaven she wasn't mean enough to aim her knee just a little lower.

"Don't call me buddy while we're naked. Are you going to give me what I want, or do I have to take matters into my own paws?"

Po's breath caught in his throat as he felt that she wasn't necessary talking about her hands. The soles of her feet slipped up his thighs. In no time they were pressing on his... fine, his _dick_.

Tigress was never gonna stop taking him by surprise, was she? Po almost projected himself into the air—he expected a meteorite to land on his head before he expected to feel _that_ just now.

" _Eeeey_ okay! I mean no, no, I can handle myself, sorry, thank you!" He shifted himself onto his knees, up and away from her impressively dexterous feet. He wouldn't lose sight of what Tigress ordered. What a lady wants, a lady gets.

She watched as his paw travelled down and curled around his length. He gave himself a few shy little practice strokes, and Tigress breathed in heavier.

"This is what you...?" he asked.

 _"Yes,_ _"_ Tigress said, her voice a perfect mix of frustration and pleasure. She tried to sit up so she could watch the show better, but with his free paw Po grabbed her shoulder and held her down.

Her eyes broke away from his activities, with difficulty, it seemed. She looked up to silently ask what that was for.

Po smiled and jerked his head toward the sea. The sky just above the horizon was a pale pink. "Sorry to mess with your view but it's almost sunrise. Keep an eye out for Lion and punch me if you see him." He steadied his free paw on the rock and bent down to lick the fur on her abs, starting high and going low.

Surprise took over Tigress' face. Po guessed that she'd let herself get carried away in the moment and didn't see the time slipping. He grinned—it was tempting to feel smug that, at the moment, he was being the responsible one.

Tigress frowned as if she knew what he was thinking. "Perhaps I'll punch you anyway, you little— _ahh!"_

Po would've asked what she was about to call him, but his mouth was once again very busy. This time, because he was getting more familiar with Tigress' body, he didn't start off gentle—he licked forcefully at her flesh and even gave her little bean a nip.

She gasped sharply and her paws grasped his head, her claws scratching his fragile ears. He ignored the pain of that to focus on everything else—Tigress' back arching up off the rock, her thighs constantly squirming on his face, the delicious smell of her, his own grip on his length.

Which was a little clumsy—it was a challenge, being in charge of both Tigress' pleasure and his own, but he knew who he wanted to prioritise. He kept his strokes slow and shallow, determined not to come before she did again.

His concentration was thrown for a moment as golden sunlight hit his eyelids. The sun was finally rising, and as the realisation came to him, he almost let himself go. It would be so easy to. As long as Tigress' cries were ringing in his ears, he could probably finish himself off in seconds. He had no idea if she cared even a little about it, but he did, just on principle. He pressed his muzzle closer, her warmth surrounding his face, shielding it from the light.

She tugged gently at Po's ears. He obeyed the demand for attention and looked up. The sunrays caressed her face, so he could see perfectly how she wasn't keeping a lookout at all, only staring at him as he worked her over. Her mouth was slack, wonderful moans tumbling out of it, but her eyes were big and sharp, looking right into him.

It was suddenly very hard to keep himself from blowing his load right now, as she eagerly watched. His strokes grew faster of their own accord, and a string of groans passed his lips before he could stop them.

Tigress mewled as they rolled over her body. Po didn't think he could handle hearing another peep from her. Just at the point where he was sure he'd fail to wait for her, Tigress' thighs clamped down on his face. Her spine curled, and Po felt her muscles throb against his tongue as her orgasm blossomed out of her.

He didn't make her come a second too early. He came close to screaming in relief when his own climax hit him. All of his body locked up except for his paw, which moved so fast he almost hurt himself. He felt his seed splash out onto his palm. So this was what it felt like to completely earn both of their orgasms by himself.

He lifted his chin up and gasped for breath, while Tigress petted the top of his head. "Haa... haa... see, plenty of time... the sun only just..."

He winced as said sun shone right into his eyes and made them water. Tigress sat herself up so he was protected in her shadow, and carried on petting his head. Maybe another time he would've found it patronising but right now it was making him feel very good about himself. It was a much nicer gesture than a pat on the back at least.

Tigress smiled down on him for a few moments, and Po enjoyed them for as long as they lasted. Too soon, her smile was interrupted. Her eyes squeezed shut, and one of her paws shot up to her temple as if she was suddenly struck with a migraine.

When the red glow showed up on her stomach, Po realised he should've seen this coming. He hoisted himself up onto his knees and took her in his arms, in case she lost her balance and fell into the spring.

"Tigress? Please don't pass out?"

Of course he didn't think that was under her control, but as they both knew, he didn't always think through everything he said. The request didn't seem wasted though—Tigress opened her eyes, and though they were a little glassy, she still looked back at him.

"Are you okay?" Po asked.

A loud crack rang out from beside them. Po looked down and found that the pail Tigress brought over was now a pile of wood, like a hammer had just smashed it. Gleaming red smoke puffed out of the broken pieces.

Po looked back at Tigress in shock. Did she just do that? If she did, it wasn't on purpose. He tightened their hug, a little freaked out, and said nothing more until he couldn't feel any more supernatural heat coming from the stomach pressed against his.

"Tigress?"

She grunted in acknowledgment and pushed him off her. He checked her face—she looked confused, but awake, thankfully.

Po started to bring his paw to her cheek, but he realised in time that it was the one he used to pleasure himself. How rude would that be? He chuckled nervously and shifted away so he could dip his paw in the spring.

Tigress stopped him. She grabbed hold of his wrist and forced his paw up so she could inspect it. Po watched her, frozen in place and entirely self-conscious.

The last thing he expected her to do was dip her head and lick his paw clean. Her tongue tickled his palm, and that was one of the many varied reasons he started guffawing uncontrollably. Why was watching her do this so hot?

When she was finished, she gave a final lick of her lips and straightened up. She giggled at his expression. "I think this can work, don't you?"

"What, uh... what can work?"

"You and I, playing together." She petted him on the side of his neck.

Po hoped his face hadn't melted off from her smile. "...Tigress?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you do this?"

Her head tilted to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Like, uh, why did you sleep with me? 'Cause we've been friends a long time, why now, why did..." He trailed off helplessly.

"That's the reason. You're my friend. Because I like you."

'Like'... Po was supposed to feel happy at such warm words, but they actually made him feel a little insecure. "Why...?"

Tigress' brow furrowed. "Why do I like you?" She shifted forward so that their shoulders could bump together. "Because you're so likeable. Everyone thinks so."

Maybe everyone did. But not everyone wanted to get down and dirty with him—that, he was very sure of.

For a moment Tigress looked like she was going to elaborate, but she changed track. "I wouldn't lie to you." Her voice was sharper than before, and her smile wilted. "Just remember what I told you."

Po was too busy thinking through her little confession to know what she meant at first. He was about to ask for a memory refresher when one of Tigress' ears stood up and she snapped her head to the side.

"I can hear footsteps," she murmured. "Put your dhoti on."

"My what?"

"Forgive me—your loincloth." She snaked around him, grabbed their clothes and pushed his into his arms. He thought he could hear rustling from the jungle edge himself now, so he tried not to panic as he wrapped himself.

Tigress seemed to defy time as she swung her skirt and sash around and was instantly decent, while he was letting himself get tangled up. It was either sympathy or the threat of proxy embarrassment that made Tigress help him. Together they smoothed his little outfit out and stood up just as Lion's yellow mane materialised from the green jungle.

"Good morning, my friends! Wow, Jade Palace warriors really are dedicated, you know how hard it is to even wake my team up at this time?" Lion approached them, taking in their appearances.

Po glanced at Tigress, and realised a little late that she looked wonderfully chaotic. Her fur was fuzzy from the hot water, and pointing in every direction after all their fun. She smoothed herself down with her palms and gave Lion a challenging look.

He sucked in his cheeks to hide his smile. "So... you two had a very short sleep, didn't you?"

Tigress gave him a warning hiss. Po considered doing the same, but he settled for a guarded stare. He could handle anyone poking fun at him, but he wasn't going to let Lion mess with Tigress too.

He was about to speak in her defence but she beat him to it. "Hardly your business." She bent and picked up the fruit she brought down earlier. "We have places to be, no? Lead the way, and behave yourself."

"Yes, ma'am," Lion said with a chuckle, and the three of them walked together to the trees. The golden cat yawned at an impressive volume. "I wish I got even a wink of sleep myself, but I was up all night praying."

Po saw Tigress do a small double-take. "I never knew you to be pious," she said.

"Neither did I," Lion said, laughing again. "But that's the local way, and you know our code, to respect every culture we encounter. It doesn't come without benefits." He winked at them, and Po thought he saw a brief blue spark, like a firework, appear from out of Lion's eye.

Tigress hummed to herself and looked down at the fruit in her arms. She struck a claw out and slashed at the fruit's skin a few times. It opened up in perfectly even slices, and she offered the first one to Po, the next to Lion.

"Thanks," Po said. He didn't notice until this point that they hadn't had breakfast yet, which was pretty remarkable. He entertained the thought of how easy he'd find fasting so long as Tigress was around to command his attention.

Even sliced, the fruit was so big that Po needed both paws to hold it properly. "Watermelon," Tigress told him for his reference. He took a bite and decided this was the best thing she'd given him to eat so far (apart from herself).

Po cleared his throat and watched as Lion strode on ahead. Tigress lagged behind to stay by Po's side. "He's clownish sometimes," she said, "but I know he'd never do anything to offend or hurt us, so don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Po said. He wasn't. He considered Tigress a good judge of character, so he was prepared to believe anything she said about the lion. She nodded at him, certainly pleased with his answer.

"I can't say the same for any of his friends though, I've never met them either."

Po looked at her searchingly. "What're you expecting?"

"Nothing bad," Tigress said. "However, in case they aren't... liberal-minded, would you do something for me?"

"Anything," Po said without a thought.

"Don't talk to anyone about us, our escapades. Keep it our secret."

Po snorted, but quickly got a hold of himself. "You really think I'd blab to strangers about that?"

"No," Tigress said impatiently. "This is just what I'm asking you to do."

Po watched her face for a few steps, but she didn't look his way. He took another bite of his meal, gulped it down and said, "You got it." She was acting like secrecy was important to her, which, considering how open she was when she was talking to him just a little while ago, left him confused. "Why?"

Tigress sighed. "What do you think is the highest virtue?"

Po was thrown for a loop. "What, you mean like, morals and stuff?" Tigress nodded. "I dunno, they're all pretty important. Courage? No, compassion. No, bravery—wait, that means the same as courage." He shook his head at himself. "I'm gonna go with wisdom."

Tigress' lips twitched. "That's your final answer?"

"Heh... yeah. Is that the right one?"

"There isn't a right one. It's a question to test the kind of outlook you have."

"Oh." Po waited. Tigress said nothing. "So why'd you ask me that?"

Her ears flattened. "Many of our fellow masters believe temperance is the highest virtue. That's why, for example, we don't eat much." She smiled a little at his belly. "At least, that's the case for most of us."

Po chuckled—that was a fair observation. "Yeah, okay. So what's that got to do with you and me?"

Tigress' smile faltered. "Po, listen. If anyone finds out what we're doing, they'll look down on us. Not only is that unpleasant, it's dangerous. Much of a master's strength comes from reputation, and this kind of... knock... the word would travel fast. I don't want our enemies to learn about us, they'd see it as a weakness and try to exploit it."

Po thought this through. It made a lot of sense, except... he remembered Bura's reaction when he saw the scroll. He laughed like he knew what was inside it. Po cringed, his fur standing on end as he realised Bura probably already knew about them. Creepy as hell.

Po opened his mouth to warn Tigress about it, but realised he couldn't without explaining how the warlock would know, and everything about the curse. Tigress looked at him, waiting for what he had to say, so he blurted out the next thing he could think of. "What do _you_ think the highest virtue is?"

Tigress paused. While she was thinking, Po tried to guess her answer. Maybe she'd say the first thing he did, courage, or maybe it'd be strength or justice. Those kinds of virtues were very her. But apparently he didn't know her exactly as well as he thought he did.

"Determination." Tigress looked around them and Po copied her. Huts were starting to appear out of the trees. "Come on, we're close now." She went on ahead, after Lion. As Po watched her go, he suddenly remembered something.

Tigress said she didn't want anything to change between them. He looked down at the fruit she'd sliced for him—something she never did back home. He was always the one who prepared food.

If she didn't want things to change, they were too late for that. Things already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: Po likes eating—what, that's canon
> 
> Sorry my schedule went to such trash, I had a crisis of confidence but I'm getting back on track now ^^ thanks for reading so far! :D


	11. "Help me out."

The sun had been up for all of fifteen minutes and Po was already feeling the heat—Indian summers did not mess around. He tried to be subtle as he rolled his shoulders, hoping he could free the fur stuck to his skin.

Tigress was sweating too—nowhere near as much as he was, but the little dewdrops on her whiskers were still distracting him. It didn't help that he now knew what they tasted like.

Po cast darting looks between her, Lion (who was annoyingly not sweating at all), and the crowds of little villagers they passed. He felt... very different now. Exposed, like there was now some obvious evidence of what he and Tigress had done written on their bodies. Though no one paid them much mind. They were still glancing at Tigress strangely, but for the most part they were too polite to outright stare again. Po didn't think he was the only one thankful for that.

A servant goose appeared out of nowhere and held his wings up. "Oh... thanks, little guy," Po said. He and his feline friends dropped their watermelon skins into the bird's grasp. He waddled away as quickly as he came, and Po was about to stop him and ask for his name when a voice pierced through the courtyard.

"No, no, _no!"_

Po and Tigress looked around in alarm. The place was surprisingly busy for the hour, so they couldn't see who the voice belonged to at first.

Anteater quickly made himself known. He bustled through the crowd, around a young deer couple leading their floating cloud of lettuces, and made a beeline for Tigress.

"What did I tell you?! It's Sapana tradition for guests to wear a different colour _every single day!"_ Anteater looked her up and down. _"Lazy!_ This is what you wore yesterday!"

Lion bit his lips together. Once the urge to laugh seemed to pass, he leaned in on Po and whispered, "Witness the mighty wrath of a dressmaker."

Anteater flicked his lilac hair back and gave a dramatic moan, as if Tigress had cursed his entire ancestry. When he caught sight of Po, he straightened up and pointed accusingly at his dhoti. "You as well?! Why do I _bother_ , nobody appreciates the artistry of—!"

"My mistake, I didn't tell him," Tigress lied calmly. She gave Po a fleeting glance. "I had my mind on other things." He was glad all eyes were on her when warmth immediately flooded his cheeks.

Anteater was not placated. "You aren't even wearing the sash correctly!" He grabbed said sash so he could drag her into the shadow of the master's hall. "It has to be over your _left_ shoulder—honestly, I do think I stressed the _importance_ of..."

Po automatically moved to follow them until Lion grabbed his shoulder. "Perfect," the cat muttered. He guided Po back, out the way of a passing vegetable cart, and Po pursed his lips when he lost sight of the others. When he and his company couldn't hear Anteater's ranting anymore, Lion turned to look Po in the eye. "So... you talked to Sati?"

Po nodded.

"And she's going to help Ti out?" Lion asked eagerly.

"Haha, yeah, we reckon Tigress is gonna be fine. Basically we gotta..." Po started, and realised he didn't want to go into many details. "Um... do you know about the Triskele Scroll?"

Lion frowned thoughtfully. "Can't say I do... but I'm still just a beginner mage, and I'd guess it's a scroll of pretty advanced techniques, huh?"

Po tried not to think too hard about some of the more elaborate positions he'd seen in that thing. He could definitely recall a female figure doing the splits directly on top of her partner's hips. "...Yep. Yep, I think it's fair to say that."

Lion smiled brightly and patted his shoulder. "Well, it's great news, right? I told you Sati would help!" He looked over at the master's hall. "You head in there and say hi to the team. I just gotta wait out here for my girl, okay?"

Po stared at him, suddenly thrown for a loop. "...You mean... Tigress?"

Lion's mouth fell open. "What? No, of course not!" He laughed hard enough that he had to lean over a little. "She's not _my_ girl now."

He winked and scampered away, leaving Po to stand in the courtyard by himself and ponder those words.

The sun and the silent villagers were the only things keeping him company out here. Po headed for the hall doors, fanning himself with a paw as he went.

xxxxx

Sati was inside. It was impossible to miss her—she stood at full height on the far side of the octagonal room, behind a large round table with simple benches surrounding it. Her back was to Po, her arms hung loosely by her sides, and she seemed to be looking up at something.

Po watched silently for a few moments as dots of red light danced above the elephant's head. When nothing more seemed to happen, he stepped farther into the room and cleared his throat.

"Good morning, Sa—"

"Hush," she snapped. "Performing a protection spell. Need absolute silence."

Po nodded before he realised she wouldn't see it, and turned his attention to the hall. No one else seemed to be around the quaint little place. He took a few steps in and was thankful to feel just the slightest breeze on his fur. The place had a lot of open windows, and skylights letting all the natural light in. Very pragmatic—it had nothing close to the grandeur of the Jade Palace, but some artist still cared enough to carve pictures of famous warriors and battles into the wooden walls.

Po approached one such picture. He recognised it easily—it was known as the Flight of the Crimson Wings, the culmination of an epic feud between two different eagle schools of kung fu. When Po was close enough to run his claws against the picture, he noticed it was made very recently. The schools died out centuries ago, but from the slightest touch of weathering on the wood, Po guessed this show of remembrance was only made within the last few months.

He looked up at the rafters. The whole place looked super new, now he was considering it properly. He stepped forward, following the wall, and promptly caught his foot on something that sent his face smack down into the floorboards.

"Ow..." Po muttered. Sati sighed in irritation and didn't turn or ask if he was okay.

He picked himself up and turned to see what he tripped over, expecting an incense pot or something.

He did a double take on recognising it was a person—a black bat, maybe an inch shorter than Shifu, though Po couldn't tell exactly while she was sitting. Her back was to the wall and she held a scroll much too big for her in her paper-thin hands. Young eyes looked up at Po, so young that he found it hard to believe she was a kung fu master, even while she wore the same blue uniform Lion and Anteater rocked. She didn't seem fazed that a 260-pound panda had just kicked her side.

"Oh," Po said, and lowered his voice after a warning hiss from Sati. "Sorry about that, little lady. I'm Po, the Dragon Warrior. You are...?"

"Master Bat," she said, her voice as dull as her expression.

"You must be another one of Lion's teammates! It's great to meet you."

Bat nodded and kept staring up at him. Po started playing with his fingers. He knew, of course he'd embarrass himself in front of at least one of his new allies. Bat didn't seem very talkative... hopefully she wouldn't gossip about this to her friends later. Po forced himself to stop his nervous habit, dropped his arms and smiled down at the girl.

"You're really a master at your age? How old are you?"

"Thirteen. A teenager, not a child, so don't baby me."

Po whispered, "Whoa," to himself. "You're almost the youngest one in history, after—"

"Master Hyena of the Amber Grove at twelve years old. Yes, I know."

Po smiled, glad that she was so knowledgable—it made him feel like less of a geek. "You must have some wicked skills to be sworn in so quickly."

Bat shrugged her tiny little shoulders. "Well... I can find things in the dark really well. And I'm strong."

"Oh?" Po's smile widened. "How strong? Enough to lift me off the ground?"

Bat nodded. "And Sati. At the same time. Easy."

"Really?" Po asked. He wasn't skeptical—he'd seen too many amazing things to just scoff at a claim like that out of hand. But Bat seemed to take his tone as a challenge, because she got to her feet and in a flash, kicked Po's own feet out from under him. He moved to take his balance back, and by that point, one of Bat's hands was under his sole. She lifted him up like he weighed as much as the scroll in her other hand.

She was at least as strong as Tigress. "Wow!" Po cried. A little clay cup zoomed over from Sati's side of the room and conked him on the side of his head. "Ow—sorry, sorry."

He hopped off of the girl's hand. She sat back down and returned her attention to her scroll. Po looked around more carefully this time, trying to see if any other kung fu warriors were hiding out in the place, but he honestly saw no one else.

"So..." Po leaned his back on the wall and looked over Bat's shoulder. "Whatcha reading? Ancient magical techniques?"

"No." Bat kept reading.

When Po looked closer, he saw the scroll was written in Sapanian. "Um... so..."

Bat looked back up at him. "It's an epic poem. It's about this local legend, a young prince was forced to marry a princess from a faraway land. But his childhood sweetheart discovered the princess was evil, and she rescued him from her clutches."

"Sounds like a cute romance," Po said.

Bat narrowed her already small eyes at him. "It's not 'cute', it's high literature and my favourite tale. I gave you a really short summary, there's loads of subplots about politics and intrigue and the like, but you'd have to read it yourself to understand."

Po nodded. He would, but, priorities. Tigress' soul wasn't gonna save itself, he'd be busy enough with that. "Hope I didn't offend you, Bat."

She jerked her head. "It's fine. Everyone else thinks I'm weird for reading so much as well."

"I don't think you're weird!" Po said. "If you read a lot, you'll get smarter, fact. And you can like whatever you want to like. I'm the last guy who could judge you, trust me."

She looked carefully into his eyes. Po decided that their chat had been successful when he saw her pinched face break out into a smile.

Bat's big ears swivelled toward the doors. She put her scroll down and got up again, then unfolded her wings. She took off, gliding over to perch on the round table.

"The others are here," she murmured. Sati sighed and the lights around her head snuffed out.

Po turned to the doors. They opened to reveal Grandmaster Cow and Lion, walking in with two masters he hadn't met yet.

The first was a tiny toad—his blue breeches would barely fit around one of Po's fingers. He hopped along in impressively high leaps, but stopped when he saw Po.

"Oh my gosh!" He yelled in a very high voice. In the corner of his eye, Po saw Bat cringe and turn her ears away. "The Dragon Warrior?! Oh my gosh, this is one of the best days of my life!"

He rushed over to Po and bowed more deeply than would be expected of him.

Po chuckled in embarrassment and knelt down to offer (he made an educated guess at the name) Master Toad a finger. He took it in his webbed hands and shook firmly. Po expected his touch to feel slimy, since his green skin had an oily sheen to it, but the hands were pleasantly dry.

"Hi there!" Po said, then looked up at the second stranger. She was a lioness, almost the spitting image of the lion standing beside her. The only differences were the missing mane, of course, and she was just slightly shorter than her companion.

She was very pretty. Not in the way Tigress was, in a way that did anything for Po. Tigress was imperial, with her blazing fur and naturally artistic stripes. The way she carried herself too. She commanded authority and respect almost everywhere she went.

Master Lioness didn't have the same power. Instead of a healthy level of pride, she only seemed haughty. That impression grew stronger when she stared Po down. Nothing close to friendliness was in her eyes.

She didn't approach him until Lion nudged her with his elbow. She then gave Po the slightest bow of her head and backed off again.

Po wondered what her problem was, but decided to be the bigger person (metaphorically as well as literally). After all, this was deja vu—Tigress didn't like him the first time they met either, and look where they were now. He smiled warmly at Lioness and gave her a little wave.

Cow scowled at her student, and opened her mouth presumably to scold her when Tigress and Anteater came in. Toad squealed.

"Master Tigress! Oh my gosh, you've been one of my idols since forever!" He leapt over to her, a little too energetically, and launched himself right at her. She caught him before he smacked into her ribs. "Oops, sorry... but y-you really have, you and the Furious Five. I kind of took inspiration from you guys when I named our team." He quickly gestured to his friends, without taking his eyes off of Tigress. "We're the Sapana Shield. You see what I did, with the alliteration and... um..."

He trailed off on realising his grandmaster was rubbing her temple, and Lion, Lioness and Anteater were snickering. Po didn't join in. He decided then that he was gonna get along best with Toad while he was here.

"If you're quite finished with your circus act, _masters_ ," Sati drawled, "let's begin."

She knelt down behind the table, since the benches were far too narrow for her. Tigress came to Po's side and they took seats next to each other. Cow, being the host, took the place closest to the door, and the five members of the Shield filled the space in between.

Cow looked to her guests. "You honour us with your presence."

She paused and stared at Po. Tigress nudged his knee with hers under the table, prompting him.

"And we're honoured to give our help!" Sometimes the formalities escaped him. Thank heaven Tigress was here to make sure he was an actually competent kung fu warrior.

Sati grunted in clear annoyance. Tigress and Cow glared at her but the Shield didn't bother—they had to be used to it by now.

"No doubt you're aware," Cow said, "there's a certain animosity in the room, but we are _all_ laying aside our differences for the good of Sapana." She looked pointedly at Sati, who stared back without shame. "After all, we're the only people for miles who have any chance against Bura."

"Since that's true," Lioness spoke up, "I don't understand why we invited this 'Dragon Warrior' here. He's the target, if we let him just roam among the villagers, they'll soon get caught in the crossfire."

All of her teammates stared at her. It seemed she wasn't normally so rude as to speak out against her grandmaster. Cow scowled, but Lion was the one to retort.

"Po's here because we need him. Bura picked him out because he thinks the guy can rival him. We can't pass that up, heaven knows we haven't done any better alone." He glanced in Tigress' direction. "And they need to be here too."

Po shuffled in discomfort and brushed against Tigress' thigh. She turned his way, assuming he was trying to get her attention. He grinned awkwardly at her. She gave him an innocent little smile in return.

Cow continued. "We have yet to beat Bura because of his raw power—he has more jing than everyone around this table combined." She focused on Po. "But it still has a limit, unlike what you have. Would you give us a demonstration of your chi?"

"Oh... sure thing!"

Po rose to his feet, feeling a touch of stage fright. He didn't know why—nothing could be easier than summoning chi back when he was home, in the palace courtyard, with his villagers and everyone who loved him looking up, all their faith in him on their faces.

This moment felt different. The locals were staring at him, urgently expectant. It was distracting, so Po ignored everyone else and focused on the one person who was smiling softly at him because she already knew what he could do.

He smiled back at Tigress and cupped his paws together.

Anteater and Toad gasped the moment his golden light ignited. When he splayed his arms out, even Sati and Lioness looked impressed. With good reason. His chi filled the room like sunlight, like there wasn't a roof above them. It was unusually bright today—Po didn't think he'd ever seen it so bright except for when he was in the Spirit Realm.

"Wow!" Toad cried.

"Wow is right," Lion said, "I wish I'd asked you to show me this before. It's so much more beautiful than what we have."

Po let his chi fade away, and all the captivated faces fell back into relative darkness.

Toad sighed. "If only we could use it too."

"Well, I _am_ a bona-fide teacher nowadays," Po said. "Tigress and I can show you how, can't we Tigress?"

He looked her way. She stood up to join him, and glowed up too. Po smiled to himself. His own chi was impressive—for whatever reason, being the True Master he had a greater amount than everyone else. But he preferred to look at Tigress'. Her more muted glow reminded him of a fireplace on a cold winter's night. It was almost always a comfort.

Not quite today though. He frowned to himself as he studied Tigress' palms. It had to be his imagination, that they were dimmer than usual. Maybe the echo of his own palms was still on his eyes, and he just couldn't see well.

The others had no reason to find Tigress' chi strange, of course. Toad and Anteater actually clapped, and Tigress nodded to them before letting her chi go.

"Incredible." Cow smiled at Po. "I'm not sure if you know just how much you've done for the world by recovering the secret of this Treasure."

Po shrugged. "I can't take all the credit. My dads—yeah, dads plural, long story—and my family back home, they're the ones who really rediscovered it. I just... was the focal point, I guess."

"Po is too modest," Tigress said. "Without him, I know this power would've never returned to the world."

Po forced himself not to blush or say 'aw shucks'.

Lion shifted forward in his seat. "Don't keep us in suspense. What do we have to do to summon our own chi?"

"'Mkay," Po said. He thought back to the lessons he gave the Valley of Peace citizens. "It's kind of a long-winded explanation with words, so Tigress and me, we're gonna pass our chi through you. Meditate on how it feels for a few minutes, and it won't take long before it kind of clicks in your heads." He raised his paws again. Tigress copied him, and everyone except Sati rose up as well. To make sure they'd be able to see what was going on, Bat and Toad kept their places on the table.

Everyone stared at Po. He forced himself to rise above his stage fright.

"Close your eyes for me..." Po murmured and they obeyed. He looked over at Tigress and she nodded. They joined the rest in closing their eyes.

Po reached out with his mind, and relaxed as he felt the presence of Tigress' chi somewhere in the space around him. Their energy moved together, and poured out to flood the room.

A familiar warmth poured back into him. He could feel them, the other beings in the room with him, their energy and their natures. The golden light was so strong, it was straining his eyes even through his eyelids, but he didn't mind. It was such a beautiful colour, and a beautiful time as he felt, for a single moment, everyone in the room was connected together. Like they had all been friends, family, since they'd first existed.

It didn't last as long as it should have. Po had one second's warning, as a cold breeze hit his body, and there was a flash of the last thing he expected—or wanted—to see. His eyelids flooded with green.

"No—" he opened his eyes and stumbled backward, falling over the bench and onto his back. He clenched his fists, and the chi connection instantly shattered.

Everyone else gasped or stumbled as well at the sudden cutoff. Po breathed for a few moments, getting his bearings, before he rolled himself over so he could get up. Tigress appeared at his side, a supportive arm hooking under his own and dragging him to his feet.

Eight pairs of eyes were looking on him with worry.

"I'm guessing..." Lion said, "that's not what was supposed to happen?"

Po tried to say how right he was when Toad interrupted.

"Is everyone okay? Did we all see that... weird green flash?" He cringed as he recounted it, and Po cringed to hear the words.

"That could _not_ have been chi, could it?" Anteater asked.

Po sighed. "Well, actually, it was. There's two sides to it." And he'd been sure that side of chi met its demise the same time Kai had. This wasn't fair. He would have time for a complication like this later, _after_ Tigress was completely safe.

But now that the problem had showed itself, Po couldn't ignore it. He opened his paws up again and held them out, carefully prodding around the room with his chi. He needed to know where that reaction had come from.

"What are you doing?" Cow asked. She looked at her students and they looked back at her, but Sati kept her eyes on Po. Her expression was grim, like she understood the situation.

"Someone here..." Po stopped himself, then sighed again. There was no way to sugarcoat it. "Someone here has an impure heart."

"What?" Cow's brow knitted together. Lion and Lioness bowed their heads to each other and started whispering. Bat looked down at the table and Toad croaked unhappily. "But... no. Everyone here, they've sworn to uphold the values of kung fu. None of us..."

Po sensed Tigress stiffen up beside him. When he checked her face, he found her glowering at Sati. He nudged at her. She turned her attention to him, and her expression fizzled out. "Guys..." he said. He was concentrating as much as he could, considering each head in the place, but this time there wasn't a trace of the dark power he'd felt just a moment ago.

He didn't want to admit that. If he could, he wanted to avoid worrying everyone. "We should hold off on the chi sharing for now. At least until Tigress and I... find our feet." And whoever had the impure heart around here.

He could practically touch the disappointment in the air. Anteater straightened up. "Someone here _ruined_ the lesson! Was it you, Bat? Were you daydreaming about stories again, instead of _concentrating_ like you were supposed to?"

Toad came to her defence before she could even open her mouth. "Maybe it was you, Ant! You were probably thinking about the next dye you're gonna put on your head, you were always the vainest guy I ever—"

"I am _not vain!"_ Anteater snapped. "I simply have a healthy appreciation for my appearance, and _other people_ are just lazy _._ Have you ever exfoliated in your life, your skin is _unbelievable_ —"

"Guys, cut it out," Lion said, his tone serious. "If there's anyone who has an impure heart around here, then clearly..." He took a deep breath. "It's Lioness." A grin took over his face. "We can all agree, no one has anger issues like her!"

Lioness proved his point by punching him in the arm, and looked like she was going to do more when Cow slammed her hooves on the table.

"This is not a joke," she hissed. "All of you, sit down and be quiet." They obeyed. Her eyes found Po again, and this time there was a flicker of sadness in them. "Do you really believe someone here is evil?"

Po quickly shook his head. "Impure doesn't have to mean evil. Sometimes we don't have bad intentions, we just lose our way. I've got faith in you guys, all of you, and I'm sure we're all on the same team. But until we know who that was, and we heal whatever's wrong with their heart, it's not a great idea for me to share how to use chi. I'm sorry."

Everyone seemed to deflate. Except for Lioness. "Only someone who doesn't understand what we're up against would be so high and mighty. Are you really going to deny us the power to defeat Bura just because one of us doesn't live up to your 'Dragon Warrior' standards?"

Her words divided the room. Tigress and Cow looked scandalised, Lioness' teammates looked like she might have a point, and Sati smirked self-righteously.

"Look," Po said. "I know what chi can do when it's abused. You _really_ don't want to know the same."

And he did not want to make Kai the Second. He'd had enough of seeing most of the people he cared about jombified, and the rest scared out of their wits. Sometimes it came back to him, the way Tigress had clutched at Lei Lei when she thought all hope was lost. Po would be happy to never have to see her like that again.

"But..." Toad muttered. "With what we have, our magic is way too weak to measure up to Bura's. And honestly, our kung fu is pretty much useless too."

Po didn't know what to say. He tried to put himself in Sapanian shoes and imagine how it would feel to be offered the power to protect your friends and stop your enemy, and then be almost immediately denied that power. But no words came to mind.

When the seconds stretched on, he glanced over at Tigress. 'Help me out here,' he mouthed.

She straightened up to address the others. For a moment, her expression echoed Shifu's when he was about to instil a handy nugget of wisdom.

"What is kung fu to you?" she asked the room.

There were a few seconds of silence before Sati chuckled. "A waste of time."

Tigress glared at her but didn't respond. Bat gave her own answer. "The same thing as magic. Power."

Po frowned. Cow and the Shield all settled into the same expression. It seemed they all agreed, and there was something about that which unsettled Po in a way he couldn't voice. Maybe there wasn't just one impure heart here, maybe he'd dodged an arrow by refusing to share his chi.

He thought Tigress was probably just as unsettled, but she didn't show it. "You're mistaken to think that," she said. "It is mastery of self, discipline and honour. Exactly what you need to uphold justice. Don't disregard everything you've learned because of this one enemy."

Sati scoffed. "Oh please. It doesn't matter what you say, you masters are all hypocrites. What a beautiful code you have! But do you follow it? Hardly."

Tigress' fangs flashed, but Cow spoke up before she could. "We won't sit here and be lectured by the likes of you. No master is perfect, but at least we strive to improve ourselves. You and your kind don't even have a code, you mages simply do whatever you please. Tell me, where's the honour in that?"

Sati's trunk curled up, as if she wanted to crack it like a whip. Popping sounds rose up in the air, and Po noticed red sparks grow in the corners of her eyes.

Po raised his paws. "Hey now, hey. I know we're all desperate to beat Bura. Arguing with each other isn't gonna do any good."

Lioness scoffed and looked at Lion. "Sound wisdom the fabled Dragon Warrior has. Same with his decision to keep all his power to himself." She turned to Po, shooting daggers directly into his eyes. "Almost like Bura."

Po's patience just began to shorten, but Tigress' was already at its end. She growled so sharply and loudly that everyone jumped.

"The Dragon Warrior is _nothing_ like that monster. Disrespect him again and I won't leave your discipline to your grandmaster."

Everyone tensed. The two cats locked eyes, and for a long moment Po thought Lioness might push it. Wisely, she lowered her ears and dropped her gaze.

Po cleared his throat. "I get how frustrating it must be, fighting Bura for so long, I really do. Tigress and I, we promise we won't leave until he's finished. Okay?"

Cow took a deep breath. "You have our deepest gratitude for that." She looked around at her students, giving Lioness a particularly withering look. "That's enough for now." Turning to her guests, she said, "Anteater and Toad will give you a tour of the area, and tell you our patrol schedule. Please take this afternoon to relax. If the locals see you at peace, you'll be a great comfort to them. Heaven knows, they've been starved of peace for centuries."

Po's eyes widened. "Centuries?"

"Yeah," Lion said. "Almost four of them at this point. Amazing what stolen jing can do for a guy!" He laughed humourlessly.

Po's mind was rolling over this new information when Cow declared, "The time for change is now. You're all dismissed."

She got to her feet and the Shield copied her. Rubbing her temple with one hoof, she led the way outside. Tigress moved to join the group, then stopped and looked back when she noticed Po wasn't following.

"Go on ahead, I'll catch up." He smiled at her. She looked back at him, glanced at Sati, and squinted her eyes in suspicion. "I won't be long."

Tigress did as he asked, and Po breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Sati, who was mimicking Cow, rubbing at her forehead with the tip of her trunk.

She looked up at Po as he approached her. "It's beginning to sink in, isn't it. Just how much you're up against. Big Hair wasn't exaggerating, I gave my best years to Sapana, and they count for only a fraction of the time The Disgrace has held it."

Po shook his head and looked at his paws. "I know I sound like an idiot who doesn't understand anything, but don't lose hope. You've never had chi on your team before." He smiled. "And giving up isn't what me and my friend are known for."

Sati looked into his eyes. It was a strange thing to give counsel to someone many many years his senior. It felt disrespectful, but Indian mages didn't seem to go by the same concepts as Chinese warriors, so maybe it was all okay.

Po didn't expect to see a soft smile show up under the elephant's tusks. "No doubt Long Nose has already scolded you... you are wearing the same clothing as yesterday." Her words prompted Po to glance down at himself. "And I imagine Red Eyes is as well."

Po tried to will himself not to blush. "Yeah, haha, he sure did give us an earful."

Sati's smile faded into something almost wistful. "You and her... you are very fond of each other." She didn't say it like a question.

Po nodded anyway. "The, um... I think the scroll is working. When we, um... were alone together, red light showed up on her belly."

Sati frowned. "Only hers? Not yours as well?"

"That's right..." Po said. "What's that mean? It _is_ working, right, I'm giving her my jing?"

"Yes, yes," she said. "I think it must be so."

"You _think?"_ Po gaped. "You mean you don't know for sure?!" Had he been too hasty in trusting this witch after all? He could suddenly see Shifu's furious face in his mind's eye, and feel the little grandmaster striking him upside the head.

"This is arcane magic you're using, Big Belly," Sati said, an unmistakable streak of defensiveness in her tone. "Jing changing of this nature has not been done in living memory. At least not before you." She huffed. "If you have seen the jing for yourself, you have no reason to doubt the process."

"But how do you know anything about this then? Don't tell me you're guessing, we can't gamble on my friend's life! Not when I..." He looked down at his paws.

"What is it?" Sati asked with a little too much gruffness, like she was trying to hide concern.

"I'm... seeing visions of her," he finally admitted. "And they keep ending the same way." Po looked back up at the elephant, hoping she'd understand without making him spell it out.

Sati leaned back in her kneeling position. "You really have the gift of clairvoyance? That is extremely difficult magic..." Her gaze turned piercing. "What did you give up for that?"

Po's mouth wavered for a moment. It was annoying that Sati was changing the subject, but he didn't know if she'd be willing to talk to him anymore if he didn't indulge her first.

"Not sure what you mean. I didn't have to give up anything."

"These things shouldn't be possible," Sati muttered. "You are far too young to already be so gifted in so many ways. There is little talent in magic, only years of toil and study. If you try to cheat time, you must pay the price. The Disgrace did." Sati looked down at her arms. "And so did I."

Po followed her eyes, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. For a long moment, he really didn't get it. Then Sati scratched at her chin with her trunk instead of one of her hands, and Po understood.

"Your arms are..." Po muttered.

"Yes." Sati curled her trunk around one of them and lifted it up. When she let it go, it flopped down to her side and swung uselessly. "When I was young, I tried to cast a spell far too complex for my ability. It backfired into my body and destroyed my nerves. I have had no control over them since." Her face screwed up into bitterness, something it looked very accustomed to. "I might as well not have them for all the good they can do."

Po thought carefully. Everyone back home who had learned to wield chi, they could all heal to a greater or lesser extent. At the very least they could all clear up little cuts and bruises. Po was probably the most talented—a few weeks ago he managed to totally fix a bunny's broken ankle in under a minute. He didn't have much experience with paralysis though. But if he didn't try...

"Let me heal you," he said.

Sati blinked at him. "These are not natural injuries. Your chi will do nothing."

Po was already waving his paws through the air when he said, "You don't know that."

He approached her with his paws alight. She recoiled.

"Don't bother, you are wasting your time." Sadness filled her eyes. Po thought he understood. She didn't want to try just in case it didn't work. "The healing spell you've learned can't help against..."

Her words fell away when Po placed his palms on the wrinkled skin of her arm. He concentrated on pushing his chi through her body, making sure it reached everywhere it needed to. This was his biggest patient yet, after all, and he wanted to be thorough.

Sati's mouth hung open. Po kept it up for a minute or two, just to be safe, and then he backed away, snuffing his chi out.

"Any better?"

Sati didn't move, she only looked at him for a long moment. Then she slowly looked down at her hands. They twitched.

As she raised her arms, tears collected in her eyes. "Years and years... but just like that..."

Her eyes darted back to Po, and she quickly used her new control over her limbs to wipe at her eyes. "You really are the True Master of Chi."

Po smiled softly at her.

The tears stopped, and determination filled her eyes instead. "How much chi can you summon at once?"

"Uh..." Po murmured. "I dunno, a lot? I don't really know how to judge amounts of stuff like this, which reminds me, how much jing do—"

Sati waved her head and her hands to stop him. "If you concentrated, could you match the chi of thirty-nine people?"

"Um...?" Po thought back to when everyone saved him from the Spirit Realm. There were more than thirty-nine people in his family, but some of them were kids. Did kids have less chi than adults? Maybe they had more? What about old people? Po realised that even if he knew how to heal, he didn't know anything. "I guess so...?" he said, just to be somewhat positive.

Sati nodded to herself. "Good, good... I have an idea." She abruptly stood up and headed for the door.

"Wait—Sati, where are you going?"

"To the blacksmith."

The _blacksmith?_ When she was by the door, Po scrambled after her. "Can you tell me why?"

Sati looked back at him. He got the impression that she would not normally be so patient, but he _had_ just done her a great service in healing her. "I intend to craft a personalised weapon for you. Time is of the essence, do not disturb me." She turned away. "In the meantime, you and Red Eyes... keep each other alive."

She ducked her head and strode through the doors. Po tried to say 'wait' again—there was a lot more stuff they needed to talk about. But the doors swung back on him, cutting him off. He followed her out and for a few moments, the blinding white of the sun was all he could see. When he blinked back his vision, he couldn't see her. It was impressive as much as it was annoying, how someone that big could move so fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: I'm NEVER MAKING OCs AGAIN! Certainly never putting seven of them in one scene again! Tf was I thinking this was not manageable
> 
> Last chapter's plothole: Po knows what a fracking watermelon is, he used two as boobs in KFP2, my cardinal sin is forgetting that wonderful scene DDD: just pretend the sex was so good it gave him selective amnesia
> 
> Also D: 'cause I don't know how to schedule, I'm sorry, thank you for reading! <3


	12. "I'll be careful."

Po found everyone off to one side, in the shade of a helpfully large tree. Cow and Lioness stood apart from the rest, whispering furiously at each other, but Tigress quickly took over Po's attention. She stood with her feet apart and arms stretched out, posing patiently while Anteater made adjustments to her sari one more time.

Once she saw Po coming she dropped her stance, gently pushed Anteater's claws away and stepped out of the shade to meet Po halfway.

When the light hit her, he felt for a second that his brain had stuttered. Her fur looked much glossier than usual, and few stray strands were already starting to turn golden from the sun... was it weird that each time he laid eyes on her, she looked more beautiful?

He felt the urge to say so. But they were in public, she probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

Po chuckled and lowered his voice. "Things got a little tense back there, huh?"

Tigress folded her arms, and didn't lower her own voice. "If you're referring to Master Lioness, I won't go back on my word. No one will insult you in front of me."

She didn't say it like a promise—more like a fact of physical law. Po tried to keep his smile subtle enough that the others wouldn't see it.

"I was talking more about the whole chi thing," he said. "It wasn't just me, right? You felt that heart too?"

Tigress nodded slowly. "You made the right choice. No matter who that was..." she glared at some space over Po's shoulder, presumably in the direction Sati had disappeared to, "these people _are_ desperate, and it's reckless to arm desperate people with unlimited power."

Po couldn't disagree.

Tigress turned and moved out of his way so they could walk to the others. Po felt her gaze rest back on him. "What did you and the witch talk about?"

He didn't miss the drop of venom in her voice as she said 'witch'. He wondered if he should address it—he knew why she didn't like magic, of course, but if he didn't, would he have asked by now?

For now it was probably safer to ignore it. "Well, my chi is still gonna help beat Bura, just not in the way we thought at first. Sati thinks 'cause I can summon a lot of it, I can use the weapon she's gonna craft me." Or at least that was what made sense to Po—the elephant hadn't been very forthcoming with her plan after all.

Tigress' lips drew back, but before she could voice the disapproval she clearly felt, Lioness slipped over and barred Po's way.

"Well," she said, "Bura can fly, make barriers, control the weather, curse souls and teleport, so... good luck using your pacifistic chi to beat him."

Tigress scowled and moved forward. Before she could reach the other cat, Cow stepped between them and gave her a pleading look.

"Lioness, _enough_ ," she snapped as she turned to her student. "You will take sentry duty until dawn, or until you learn to watch your mouth—whichever comes later. Go, _now."_

Lioness sighed and turned her back on Po. She dropped down on all fours and ran off toward the thicker side of the jungle.

Cow frowned apologetically at Po and Tigress. "I ask that you don't base your impression of my team on Lioness' behaviour. I don't know what's wrong with her, she's not normally like this."

Lion chuckled. "Not in front of you, master. Don't take it personally, Po, she's just a brat. I'll take this sentry duty with her, keep her out of trouble."

Cow raised her brow. "It's her punishment, but if you want to miss your sleep as well, that's your choice."

He nodded and took off jogging after Lioness.

"If there's nothing you two need," Cow said to her guests, "Bat and I will take our leave of you as well."

Po looked at Tigress and she nodded. "We're good," he said.

Cow bowed her head and gestured for Bat to follow her. The little master launched herself into the air and glided over her master's head as she walked away.

That left just Anteater and Toad. They approached the guests with giant smiles on their faces.

"Ready for the best tour ever?" Toad asked. "I'm totally gonna show you all the coolest places around here."

"You are _not_ ," Anteater said. "I said _I_ would do the tour, you're just here to help!"

Toad pulled a face at him. "You never leave your silly shop, you don't know anything about Sapana!"

 _"Excuse me!_ I've lived here just as long as you have! And I'm older than you, so I get the higher responsibilities anyway."

They both completely seemed to forget that Po and Tigress were right in front of them. Toad threw his tiny arms down like a sulky teenager. "Aw come on, Ant, I'm never gonna get another chance to impress such amazing warriors again!"

Po scratched at the back of one paw. People might think he'd be used to hero worship by now, but even after years of holding the Dragon Warrior title, he still spent years longer being the one who did the worshipping. Everyone around him said he was naturally humble, but he thought what they saw as humility was more like a constantly simmering anxiety that, at any moment, he might mess up badly enough for everything he'd earned to be taken away.

Yes, it was stupid. He couldn't help it, but he learned a long time ago how to push it down.

He looked at Tigress to see she was smiling gently at the boys' shenanigans.

"You are both dignified enough to escort us, and we'll be honoured if you do so." She gestured out to the courtyard. "Please, lead the way."

They glared at each other. As they walked out of the shade together, Anteater swiped at Toad with his foot and not-really whispered, "Would you _shut up_ now, you're making them think we're total _idiots!"_

"You're the one who started complaining in the first place, you pompous...!"

Their bickering faded as they pulled away. When Po and Tigress followed, he saw her smile evolve into a full grin.

"Do they remind you of anyone?" she asked.

Po grinned back. "Monkey and Mantis, for sure."

Tigress shook her head slightly, but her grin stayed intact. "Actually, I was thinking of you."

"What? I'm not argumentative like that!"

"That's not what I meant. But you are argumentative when it comes to what to have for dinner."

That was unfair of her. "Hey... as long as the food is good, I hardly ever mind. I don't argue about anything... well..."

Sometimes he and Tigress bumped heads about how best to approach a mission. Usually Po would suggest doing something bold and reckless, because it would be fun or make for a good campfire story, and Tigress had to rein him in. It rarely got ugly... he could count one on paw how many times they ever really fought, and that was only because, those times, they had something to fear.

Tigress relented. "No, you're not argumentative." She turned serious. "In fact, sometimes you're too much the opposite. The next time Lioness tries to needle you, remember you outrank her. There are some things she can't get away with saying to you."

She stared at him until he said, "...Okay."

Her eyes softened. "Sometimes fighting is a good thing. We know that."

Po smiled at her. "We sure do." Her words replayed in his head. "So what did you mean?"

"Hm?"

"You said, 'That's not what I meant'."

"Ah." Tigress' eyes squinted shut in amusement. "I was suggesting that you're eager to please. I certainly don't want you to be a pushover, but to be so passionate about impressing someone, for example myself, is—it's _always_ been flattering."

Po's eyes widened. Tigress gave him a curious look for a few seconds, which fizzled out when she seemed to recognise what she'd said.

She cleared her throat. "Come on—I suspect the boys will get so lost in their fight that they'll leave us behind if we're too slow."

She hitched her skirt up—something Po really wished she'd given him a heads up about—and tucked the hem into her waistline so her legs were free and she could run easier. Then she took off after the others, and Po had to take a few seconds of processing before he could go after her.

xxxxx

"So there's the inn for general guests, and that path there leads to the closest neighbouring village of—"

"Ah yes, that path leads to _Jaag_ , a _fabulous_ little place about fifty miles—"

"Oh my gosh, could you stop interrupting me?!"

Po wished he could be like Tigress—perfectly attentive at all times. She listened raptly to everything Toad and Anteater said, even if half of it had nothing to do with Sapana and was just the boys throwing insults at each other.

Po paid attention to everything of real importance: where the river ran, any sharp dips or ledges in the terrain, where the trees were thickest. All this stuff might be need-to-know in a fight.

But everything else, even the stuff about where the restaurants and food markets were, he kind of tuned out. It wasn't necessarily boring—he just couldn't stop his mind wandering away with all the little villagers.

He watched their gestures and movements as they made things levitate, or conjured fire for stoves, or rapidly transformed random sticks and stones into tools.

He was still impressed. Especially with the kids—he watched a deer Lei Lei's age practise levitation on a heavy-looking rock. The top of his head glowed blue, and the rock shakily rose up a few inches off the ground, then gently floated back down. The kid kept this up a few times, and it looked to Po like the rock was getting steadier each time. He grinned.

A few seconds of silence passed, and he turned back to his company. Tigress was frowning at him, but Anteater and Toad were smiling.

"He's getting good, huh?" Toad said. "The Sapanians were really generous about their magic when we first got here, they showed us how to do all sorts of stuff! We've been practising really hard but... magic's a lot tougher than they make it look."

Anteater nodded, and Po wanted to laugh at the two of them actually agreeing about something.

Instead he asked, "So... your whole team is learning magic?"

"Yep!" Toad said.

"So does that mean anyone can try to pick it up?" Po glanced at Tigress to see her frown had deepened.

"Oh, _certainly!"_ Anteater said. "Everyone in the world has the potential to perform magic. If you have a good imagination and you believe in yourself, it's not the _spells_ that are difficult. It's the _strength_ of them."

He reached into a pocket of his breeches and took out a little brass coin. He laid it out in his palm so Po and Tigress could see it, then scowled at the little thing in absolute concentration. After a few seconds, his dyed hair lost its purple hue to bright blue, and the coin slowly rose up. It shook violently for a second before Anteater's focus broke, he de-lighted, and the coin fell back into his palm.

"Lion and Lioness picked it up the quickest," Toad said. "It's all about having a good channel to your source energy—one of your Treasures. The easier you can summon a Treasure, the easier magic is. So you'll probably already be really good at it, Dragon Warrior!"

Po's brow raised. "Wha—"

Anteater flipped the coin at him, and he scrambled to catch it.

"Give it a try!" Anteater said. "All you need to do is call your _chi_ forth, and then just picture the coin floating in your mind, simple as _that!"_

"No."

The three boys turned to Tigress. She blinked, looking confused at herself, and Po realised she hadn't meant to say that aloud.

"I... this isn't some fun trick, Po. Magic is a powerful thing."

He nodded and said gently, "I know. Maybe it can help us—if we learn how to do this, we could use it against Bura."

She didn't look convinced at all.

"I'll be careful."

Tigress huffed and folded her arms. Po saw the way she clutched at her elbows. He cleared his throat and stared at the coin.

Nothing happened. All four of them waited, and nothing continued to happen.

Anteater and Toad looked up at Po in surprise. "Aren't you trying to summon your chi?" Toad asked.

"...Oh. Right, I'll do that." He thought hard about who he was and what had made him the person he'd become. To his pride, his palms flared up without him having to move his paws around in the summoning motion, but when he refocused on the coin, it still didn't move.

"What can you already do with this Treasure?" Toad asked.

"Heal people, that works totally fine—in fact I just healed Sati right now."

Anteater had a very small mouth at the end of his snout, so it wasn't that impressive when his jaw dropped, but Toad's open mouth made up for it by being half the size of his whole body.

 _"Completely_ healed her?" Anteater kept gaping. _"Just now?!_ How?!"

Po laughed nervously and brought his paw up to scratch the back of his head.

"Sometimes I do my best work when I... have no idea what I'm doing."

Anteater and Toad looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Sati did say..." Toad said, "that we'll each find certain spells easier than others. Maybe healing is your thing and levitation... isn't?"

He cringed and looked up at Po with an apologetic smile.

Po wasn't offended. "Maybe!"

Anteater turned to Tigress. "What about _you_ , darling?"

She frowned questioningly, and Anteater pointed to the coin in Po's paw.

"Care to try?"

Tigress opened her mouth to refuse, Po was sure. Before she said anything, she caught him looking at her. Po didn't know what she saw on his face, but whatever it was seemed to change her mind.

"Yes," she said, and held out her paw. Without dropping their shared look, Po placed the coin in her waiting palm.

Barely a second after he moved away, Tigress' paw caught alight and the coin shot up a few inches into the air.

"Oh my gosh!" Toad cried.

Anteater laughed in delight. "That is pure _talent_ right there!"

That didn't square with what Po heard from Sati. Unease crept up on him. Before he could think of a way to express it, Toad started clapping and hopping up and down in place. "Of course it is, she's the one and only Master Tigress!"

Po couldn't join in on their praise—he watched Tigress closely enough to see a shadow fall over her. Her face slackened and her eyes turned vacant in the way he'd seen a few times before. He didn't expect her to fall into this trance while they were out here in public—was it his fault again or did something else set her off?

He felt the others settle down when they sensed something was wrong too. Not trusting the idea of breaking his and Tigress' gaze, he reached out to her slowly.

"Tigress...?" he called softly. She didn't seem to hear him.

He touched her elbow. Her eyes contracted, and her paw snapped shut like a flytrap. Po knew he saw a red flash in the corner of his eye.

Then the coin exploded.

"YOW—" He flinched and jumped back as a piece of ragged metal skimmed his cheek. Tigress gasped and leapt back as well, though Po noted none of the coin pieces that went her way actually touched her, just bounced away from her before they could get within an inch of her skin. The rest of the pieces flew over Anteater and Toad's heads and fell to the soft ground.

"My _dear..."_ Anteater murmured.

"That was _amazing!"_ Toad yelled. "Did you really just use a combustion spell, just like that? And on _metal_ of all things? That's, like, intermediate magic at least!"

Tigress looked pale as a ghost. She slowly stepped toward Po and reached out to his cheek, which was now stinging a little.

"I... didn't..." She grimaced at the injury she'd made. Her paw lit up again, and Po felt her chi stitch his skin back together in triple time.

Po took her dimming paw between his own. "Thanks. Don't feel bad, you only nicked me a little." He smiled at her. "Besides, that _was_ pretty cool!"

Her mouth opened to retort, but no words came out. She tore her eyes away to look all around them.

When Po copied her, he found all the Sapanians in the area were openly staring at her again. He let go of Tigress' paw and looked back at the boys.

"Um... so can we carry on with the tour now?" he asked.

Anteater and Toad seemed to snap out of a trance themselves.

"Oh—of course!" Toad said. He began hopping away. "C'mon, follow me and I'll show you the Temple!"

"You mean _I'll_ show them the Temple," Anteater said, and went after him. Tigress moved next, glaring at the ground as she went.

Po was right behind her. Before they passed through a thick wall of trees, he glanced back around at the villagers. They didn't look like he expected them to. There was no fear or anxiety on their faces... only awe.

xxxxx

Po realised he hadn't had a real workout in a while... if his time with Tigress didn't count. Anteater and Toad took off sprinting out of Sapana proper and up the closest mountain. It wasn't as steep as the ones back home, but it was just as tall, and probably took the group half an hour at full speed to scale.

They didn't go to the very top. Just before the peak, they slowed down and followed a ledge around the mountain face to an easy-to-miss opening in the rock—according to the tour guides, the Temple entrance. It didn't look all that impressive from out here, the carving was very simple and hasty.

Things were a different story inside—they stepped in, followed a damp little pathway, and found at the end a magnificent chamber in the hollowed-out mountain. The place was big enough to comfortably hold everyone in Sapana, and it looked like a stone version of the Hall of Heroes with its rows of pillars keeping the ceiling up. Along the walls stood fifty-foot-tall statues of featureless figures, and Po spotted a handful of villagers kneeling in front of them. It didn't look like there were any other openings to the outside world, so the daylight couldn't get in. That didn't matter, Po could see everything and everyone in the light of a gigantic orb floating at the far end of the chamber. It looked like a bright blue sun.

It was familiar... he'd seen a representation of it in the Triskele scroll. He turned to Anteater and Toad to ask what it was, but the moment he took his eyes off the orb, he suddenly felt a wave of cold air sweep over his head. His fur stood on end.

"Eughh... why is it so—?"

He stopped. He'd been a little too loud—his voice bounced through the whole chamber, and he quickly felt everyone's eyes fall on him. Not just those of the villagers, or his friends... he had the sneaking suspicion that the statues were watching him too, though he didn't know why. They were made of stone, it wasn't like they were alive or anything.

"We are sorry, dearies," Anteater murmured. "We should've given you fair warning... this place is saturated with _very_ powerful magic."

Po checked Tigress, expecting to read on her face how much she wanted to bolt clear out of here. But actually, while he and the boys were shivering pretty hard, she seemed fine.

She looked him over with a knitted brow. "What's wrong?"

Po mirrored her confusion. "Don't you feel it? How cold it is in here?"

She stared at him for a few moments before shaking her head.

 _"Really?"_ Anteater asked. "That's a first... everyone else who comes in here can't help but react..." He pointed first to the orb, and then to the top of his head, which started to glow blue again.

The same happened for Toad, and when Po looked back around, he saw all the praying villagers were glowed up too. He reached a paw up and patted the top of his own head—it was cold and quickly getting colder. It felt like his body heat was being drawn out of him from this point. "Huh... this stuff is another Treasure, right?"

Anteater and Toad nodded.

"So red light is jing, yellow is chi... what's blue?"

"That would be _shen,"_ Anteater answered, and Po did a double take at the name. "The third and final Treasure, the soul's connection to Heaven."

Toad picked the explanation up. "It's the Treasure everyone around here works with, 'cause unlike jing, it's not forbidden, and unlike chi, everyone knows what you have to do to summon it—the challenge is actually, y'know, doing it."

Po patted his skull a couple more times, wondering if it would suddenly come alive with cosmic energy. "So what's the trick to it?"

"Faith," Toad said. He gestured over to the villagers and the statues they were praying to. "You have to submit to the Immortals, and everything they've decreed is pure and righteous. Basically, you gotta follow a whole load—a _whole load_ —of rules. You have to fast for a long while, and pray for hours, and take a vow of celibacy," oh, so this option was out for Po and Tigress, "and purge your heart of any intention to do evil. Then the Immortals will let you channel your shen through that there mini sun." His voice lowered into a grumble. "Which is kind of mean when you think about it—after all, it's _your_ Treasure, you should be able to use it without putting so much effort in."

"But," Anteater said, "they control it for a _very_ good reason. Shen is the most powerful Treasure by _far_. If three mages fought, and each one was using a different Treasure? The shen mage would win, easily. Imagine if Bura could use it, he probably would've destroyed Sapana years ago!"

Po scratched thoughtfully at one of his ears. "If it's really that powerful... how come the villagers haven't tried using it to fight against Bura themselves?"

Anteater and Toad shared a distinctly uncomfortable look.

"They _did_ try," Anteater said, "a long time ago, but... fighting didn't come naturally to the Sapanian ancestors. The sharpest sword on the battlefield isn't much good if you don't know how to swing it, and anyone who tried was punished. And when Bura started going after the younger ones... parents stopped teaching their children offensive spells just to protect them. They can't remember their power anymore."

"I understand pride," Tigress muttered, "but in the face of life under _him_ , Sapana should've evacuated generations ago."

The boys' eyes widened. Toad said, "I figured Lion would've explained already... they can't leave. Bura cast a barrier curse from the sea to here, and no one born within Sapana can pass through it. Which makes things pretty difficult every monsoon season, when the floods and mudslides come... Sati's the only reason the entire village hasn't drowned fifty times over. Though every year she can never save everyone..."

Tigress hissed through her teeth and turned away to compose herself. Anger didn't come quite as naturally to Po as it did to her, but he still felt like punching something. That combined with the cold of the temple was giving him a unique case of discomfort.

"We oughta head back now, yeah?" he said, hoping his hint wasn't too transparent.

The boys smiled gently at him. "Before we go..." Anteater said, "do you want to try summoning shen?"

"Ah... something tells me I wouldn't be very good at it."

"No, you're right." Anteater chucked. "I don't think either of you are... _temperate_ enough."

Tigress turned back to face him. Most of her control had returned to her face, but her eyes were still a little sharp. "What do you mean by that?" She glanced at Po, and he thought he saw a little nervousness in her eyes.

Anteater looked taken aback by her defensiveness. "It's not a criticism, as _such._ I just mean the two of you already ate today. Believe me, the Immortals are _strict_ about submitting to their rules. But I think your chi is good enough, don't you?"

He and Toad turned and led the way to the entrance. Po turned back with them. Before he left, he looked over his shoulder at the mini sun, as Toad had called it.

His head was almost numb by now. Chi was so comfortably warm, jing even more so, but there was nothing appealing about this shen stuff. It wasn't even any relief from the Indian heat. He raised a paw to rub at his forehead, thinking it was probably fruitless—could he really rub away a supernatural cold?

It sure didn't work, but that didn't matter. He turned around and found Tigress blocking his path. Before he could ask why, she brought her own paw to his forehead, and her touch chased the cold away in an instant.

He closed his eyes and sighed. That was much better.

He'd be fine with staying rooted to this spot and enjoying Tigress' warmth, but two very tall warriors just standing in this pose and blocking the cave entrance would probably spawn a lot of questions, and Po had no clue how to answer them. He opened his eyes and saw Tigress frowning once again. By this point, she was going to get early wrinkles.

She dropped her paw and looked down at it. "I don't know what any of this means. Why I'm reacting so differently to... everything."

"It's okay," Po said, stupidly. How did he know it was okay? He shook his head at himself. "If you don't have to feel the cold, it can't be all bad at least, right?"

It didn't look like that comforted Tigress at all, but she gave him a smile for trying. They ducked back into the entryway and left the cold behind.

xxxxx

They hiked back down to the village at a slow trot, finding a surprise along the way—a conga line of two dozen Sapanians scaling the mountain together. The ones that weren't holding a basket or wrapped bundle were floating some along with their magic.

They kept their eyes on Tigress from the moment they spotted her.

"Still staring..." she murmured, low enough that only Po could hear her.

"Can't blame them," he said.

Tigress' eyes darted to his. "What?"

Po realised that came out sounding really bad. "I didn't mean anything about..." He started whisper-yelling. "I just think they find it hard not to stare 'cause you're so nice to look at!"

He expected her to scoff at him and his strange attempt at saving face, but her face scrunched up into anxiety instead.

The only thing he could think of to recover from 'Awkward Situation with Tigress #657' was an apology. "Sorry, I know, don't call you pretty in public."

"Don't call me pretty at all." Tigress folded her arms, angled herself away from him and kept walking. As Po followed, he tried hard to work out exactly what he'd just done wrong.

He didn't reach a conclusion before they met the village crowd face to face. The heroes couldn't forget their manners, and stepped onto the grassy ledge beside the path to let the little creatures pass.

They didn't—instead they formed a tight pack around Po and Tigress, staring up at them silently. They were all so little, but it was still unsettling to have a sheer drop right behind you, and your way forward blocked by a silent, unsmiling crowd. Po looked to his friend, and when he saw she was as nonplussed as him, turned to Anteater and Toad.

"Ah!" Anteater said, smiling brightly enough that Po felt a little better about being cornered. "I was wondering when they'd get around to _this_ little tradition."

"Another one?" Tigress said less-than-enthusiastically.

One of the villagers at the forefront—a tiny mouse, levitating a basket ten times her size—stepped forward and guided it close to Tigress' chest. When she took it in her paws, the mouse bowed and left for the back of the crowd.

Tigress held the basket up, away from her body like it was something gross, even though it only had jars of sweet-smelling powders inside. "Masters shouldn't accept payment for our services."

"This isn't payment!" Toad said while a squirrel came up to Po and placed a wrapped package in his paws. From the scent he knew it was more food—freshly baked bread. "It's just gifts!"

Po and Tigress shared their wide eyes. There was so much here that they'd really struggle to carry it all.

"Why are all you guys so generous?!" Po asked.

The boys laughed. "Sapanians have a lot to give. They can't enjoy most of the things they grow and make here, not if they want to use shen. They try to trade almost everything away, but... very few travelling merchants dare to come here so there's always a surplus."

Tigress looked down at her first basket and brought it closer to herself. She still looked a little conflicted about accepting it.

 _"Honestly?"_ Anteater said. "You'll be doing them a _favour_ by taking this stuff off their hands! Besides, it's a mortal insult to refuse a gift here. Don't want to offend anyone, _do_ you?"

Tigress made a little 'hmph' sound that surprised Po with its cuteness, and put the basket down by her feet so she could accept the next gift.

They stayed like that for a while, long enough for Po to start considering the sun his nemesis. But his final gift was a full wineskin from a little squirrel girl. He passed it to Tigress and watched her quickly unlace and sip from it before handing it back. Po practically inhaled the rest. He didn't really like wine much, but this skin had to be enchanted to keep its contents cool, which was exactly what he needed in that moment.

The squirrel looked on with a secret smile, which was almost as good as the real gift. Just before she turned away, Po gestured that he wanted to talk. "If tomorrow you found out you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

The squirrel tilted her head to one side, and Po remembered that she wouldn't know Chinese. He looked to Toad, who hopped over and translated for her. She looked thoughtfully at the ground for a few seconds, then shuffled over to whisper in Toad's ear

"She says the first thing she wants to see is the place you and Master Tigress came from."

Po grinned at her. "You can come visit it, real soon."

The squirrel didn't wait for a translation—it seemed the way Po said the words was enough for her to understand. She turned and scurried back to who Po presumed were her parents, waiting at the back for her.

The whole crowd bowed a final time, then left together to keep climbing the mountain. Po looked around at the sea of goods he and Tigress were standing in and tried not to laugh.

He succeeded until the boys started cracking up. Anteater rubbed his paws together. "We will of _course_ help you carry everything back. I sure hope you make use of it!"

"'Course we will," Po said as each of them started stacking baskets. "It'll just take us, like, ten years. There's not gonna be a part two of this tradition, right?"

Toad ducked out from under his leaning tower of baskets and winked. Po laughed again, and looked over at Tigress to check if she was in on the joke.

She had stopped stacking—a bundle had come free and opened up to reveal a golden pendant, with an opal flashing many colours in the sun. She held in up in her palm and stared at it, and Po really couldn't tell what she was thinking. Her expression could mean anything from gratitude to the desire to throw this little thing off the cliff.

Po approached her. "Do you want me to put it on you?"

"No," she said immediately. "This must be a family heirloom. I have to return it, nevermind tradition."

Anteater and Toad opened their mouths, but quickly thought better of it. Tigress was using her team boss voice, nothing would change her mind.

Po watched her put the pendant back in its protective cloth, wrap it securely and add it to the balancing act she had going on her shoulder. She made it look easy but Po felt there was a good chance he was going to take one step and drop his own stack of stuff down the cliffside.

All the same, the group started down the mountain. Po thought Tigress was in too much of a thoughtful mood to want to say anything, but when Anteater and Toad left them behind a few paces, she spoke up.

"Do you ever feel like people have too much faith in you?"

Po whirled around on her, so fast that his stack swayed dangerously. Was that... self-doubt? It was so alien coming from her, he barely recognised it.

Once his shock subsided, he didn't have many options besides answering honestly.

"Try every minute of every day!"

...He didn't know where that came from. Po quickly started laughing like she shouldn't take him seriously. And why would she anyway. After everything he'd accomplished, it was impossible to have 'too much' faith in the Dragon Warrior... he was the greatest hero alive! He believed in himself, of course he did!

Tigress saw right through him. The paw closest to him twitched—if it was free, Po would bet she'd reach out and touch his shoulder. For now the best she could do was step over and carefully bump their shoulders together.

Po didn't think she'd be able to say anything that would make him feel less embarrassed after that all-too-naked statement. But he underestimated her.

"Well, you're not the only one."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: ho ho ho, it's magic, you kno-o-ow, never believe it's not so! it's magic, you kno-o-ow, never believe it's not sooooooo~ (Pilot, 'Magic', *From the Album of the Same Name*, Scotland: EMI, 1974)
> 
> What has two thumbs and sucks at updating? This girl eyyyyyyy thank you for your patience and happy new year!


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